U.S. spy plane: opinions from Taiwan

The current stand off between the United States and China over the spy plane attracted comments from an unexpected source: Taiwan. In an unprecedented move, the Chinese media started quoting their Taiwanese colleagues. A recent story published in Taiwan claims that American reconnaissance aircraft attempted in the past to collect information not only from China, but from Taiwan as well. A retired Taiwanese Air Force pilot is quoted as saying: "Much of the time EP-3s showed up off south-eastern part of the island to gather electronic information when the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology test fired missiles." The comment referred to the Chiupeng base in the southern-most Pingtung county, where the Chungshan-designed surface-to-air Tienkung and ship-to-ship Hsiungfeng missiles were test fired." Taiwanese fighter pilots, who tried to intercept EP-3s over the island in the past, say the Americans attempted to "play cat and mouse" with them. One of the pilots said: "They would sometimes unexpectedly slow down or shut off two of their four turboprop engines, he said. Jet-fighters can stall if they slow their speed dramatically. Another EP-3 trick was to make a sharp turn. Maybe the American pilots thought interceptors would immediately fly away when EP-3 made a sharp turn, so they time and again played the tricks."

Henry L. Marconi Pravda.Ru Sydney, Australia