An American warplane was monitored by China’s military as it flew over northern Taiwan last week, according to a PLA source, despite the United States denying – after first acknowledging – that any such flight ever took place.  Although Taiwan’s air force dismissed the reports as fake news, the US Air Force confirmed that one of its RC-135W electronic surveillance planes had been in the area at the time of the reported sighting.

Dr Collin Koh, a Research Fellow at RSIS said it was unlikely the US jet had mistakenly flown over Taipei. “[The RC-135W] is one of the most sophisticated reconnaissance platforms in the world,” he said. “There’s no way its crew would make such an error. A more likely explanation was that the two air forces – after ­reports of the flight had entered the public domain – sought to play down the matter,” Koh said.