Air force criticised for not reacting to Russian plane (Roundup)

Mar 23, 2010, 12:31 GMT

Taipei - The air force admitted Tuesday that a Russian military plane had entered Taiwan's airspace, prompting angry criticism from lawmakers for its failure to intercept.

Major General Wang Hsuan-chou acknowledged in a news conference Tuesday the Russian Tupolev TU-95 long-range strategic bomber entered Taiwan airspace on January 28.

But he stressed the plane merely flew into Taiwan's air defense identification zone briefly and left swiftly after it was warned by the air force.

'According to our judgment at that time, the unidentified aircraft was harmless and therefore we handled the incident in line with standard operation procedure,' he said.

The procedure included issuing high alertness, putting missile defence on standby and broadcasting through international emergency radio frequency to demand the aircraft leave immediately, he said.

That response was sharply criticized by both ruling and opposition parliamentarians for risking Taiwan's security, because the jet was able to carry 15 tons of ammunition, including missiles.

They said the plane could have been a threat to security.

'The air force should at least send fighter jets to intercept it for intruding into our airspace,' said ruling Nationalist Party lawmaker Ding Shou-chung.

Opposition Democratic Progressive Party lawmaker Chai Trong-rong demanded the Defence Ministry punish any negligent officers.