China Closes Off Part Of South China Sea After Its Y-8 Jet Crashes Into Waters, Says Taiwan

A Y-8 anti-submarine jet belonging to the People's Liberation Army (PLA) has crashed into the South China Sea off the Vietnam coast, forcing China to close off part of the disputed waters so that it can discreetly launch a search for the fallen aircraft.

According to Taiwanese intelligence officials, China quickly declared a military drill as a guise to restrict navigation in the area, reported Nikkei Asia.

The island’s National Security Bureau told the legislature Thursday that the crashed jet was a Shaanxi Y-8 anti-submarine warfare aircraft. Bureau's director-general Chen Ming-tong said the search operations are being conducted in the waters close to the disputed "nine-dash line."

He, however, declined to give any further details as it "involves the source of their intelligence." Chen said China was using the situation to "test the limits of the U.S. and other South China Sea claimants" while the world's attention mostly focused on the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

His statement confirmed earlier reports by Vietnamese journalist Duan Dang that a Chinese military patrol plane had crashed off the coast of Vietnam. He had mentioned how PLA Air Force had lost contact with a Y-8 maritime patrol aircraft as it flew over an area of water southwest of Sanya in China’s Hainan province on March 1. Beijing soon launched a search-and-rescue operation and "concealed it with drills" between March 1 and 2.

However, China never acknowledged the incident. But, there was also a sudden drop-off in Y-8 flights through Taiwan's air defense identification zone (ADIZ), with none reported from March 2 to March 7, said Taiwanese local media reports.

Soon after, the drill was announced until March 15 between its southern province of Hainan and Vietnam, while restricting navigation in the area. China’s Hainan Maritime Safety Administration had then issued a warning, unilaterally banning vessels from entering an area that overlaps with Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

Hanoi immediately registered its protest calling on China to "respect Vietnam’s EEZ and continental shelf, stop and not to repeat any act that complicates the situation." Beijing, however, chose to ignore by protest, saying "it is reasonable, lawful and irreproachable for China to conduct military exercises on its own doorstep."