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China stages big military incursion, Taiwan says
China is staging one of its biggest incursions so far in the seas and skies around Taiwan, according to data from the island’s defence ministry.
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It said that 71 Chinese air force planes, including fighter jets and drones, had entered Taiwan’s socalled air defence identification zone.
Taiwan is self-ruled - but China sees it as a breakaway province with which it will eventually reunite.
Tensions between the two sides have steadily increased in recent months.
In August, Beijing was enraged by a visit to the island by US Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, the most senior US politician to visit Taiwan in 25 years.
China responded to that visit by holding what was then its biggest-ever military exercises in the seas around Taiwan, and also blocked some trade with the island.
Taiwan’s foreign minister Joseph Wu condemned China’s action then as highly provocative. China has never said it would not use force to bring Taiwan under its control.
On Monday, Taiwan’s defence ministry said 43 Chinese aircraft had crossed over the so-called median line, an unofficial buffer separating the two sides inside the air defence zone.
China said it had conducted “strike drills” around Taiwan on Sunday in response to what it said was provocation from the island and the US.
Washington has always walked a diplomatic tightrope over the issue of Taiwan.
On the one hand it adheres to the One-China policy, a cornerstone of its relationship with Beijing. Under this policy, the US acknowledges that there is only one Chinese government, and has formal ties with Beijing rather than Taiwan.
But it also maintains close relations with Taiwan and sells arms to it under the Taiwan Relations Act, which states that the US must provide the island with the means to defend itself.
China carried out a huge military drill around Taiwan in August as well
The Indian Railways is one of the country’s largest employers
Indian Railways: The job-seekers tricked into counting trains
Police in India’s capital Delhi are investigating a complaint about a job fraud in which around 28 men were tricked into counting trains for days.
The men believed they were training for a job with the Indian Railways.
A former army official, who said he unknowingly put the men in contact with the alleged scammers, alerted the police about the fraud.
The victims paid between 200,000 rupees ($2,400; £2,000) and 2.4m rupees each to get the job, local media reported.
The Delhi police’s economic offences wing started investigating the alleged scam in November but the news became public only last week.
The men, who are from the southern Tamil Nadu state, were asked to stand at different platforms of the main railway station in Delhi for eight hours every day for about a month. There, they counted the trains that passed through the station every day, news agency Press Trust of India reported.
The men were promised they would be hired as ticket examiners, traffic assistants or clerks in the railways, one of India’s largest employers.
One of the victims told The Indian Express newspaper that he had been looking for ways to support his family after the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We went to Delhi for training - all we had to do was count trains. We were sceptical of the activity, but the accused was a good friend of our neighbour. I feel ashamed now,” he said.
Subbuswamy, the former army man who filed the complaint with the police, told PTI that he had been helping young men from his hometown in Tamil Nadu Virudhunagar district find jobs “without any monetary interest” for himself.
He said he met a person called Sivaraman who claimed to have connections with lawmakers and ministers and offered to find government jobs for the unemployed men.
He then put Subbuswamy and the victims in touch with another man, who even took the candidates for fake medical examinations. The man later stopped answering phone calls from them.
Some of the victims said they borrowed money to pay the scammers.
Scams for government jobs are often reported in India, where millions of young people are desperate for stable, secure employment. In March 2021, police in the southern Hyderabad city said they had arrested two men believed to have tricked around a hundred candidates who thought they were being hired by the railways.
North Korean drone reaches north of Seoul
South Korean military officials say North Korea has flown five drones across their mutual border.
The “unmanned aerial vehicles” violated South Korean airspace in the border areas around Gyeonggi province, said the country’s joint chiefs of staff.
One drone flew all the way to the northern edge of the capital, Seoul, before returning across the border.
Jets and attack helicopters were deployed, but 100 rounds fired from helicopters failed to shoot them down.
A South Korean military official said they had since lost track of all the drones, but that they were no longer in flight.
The incursion comes amid increased tensions on the Korean peninsula, with the North conducting a record number of missile tests this year.
The drones were spotted crossing the border at about 10:30 local time (01:30 GMT).
One of the South Korean warplanes involved in the operation, a KA-1 light attack aircraft, later crashed, but its two pilots escaped unhurt.
The plane fell to the ground in Hoengseong County, east of Seoul, soon after take-off from an air base in the nearby city of Wonju, according to the air force, quoted by Yonhap.
South Korea also suspended planes taking off and landing at its Incheon and Gimpo airports for about an hour.
A South Korean military official described the latest incursion as a clear act of provocation by Pyongyang.
“Our military will continue to respond thoroughly and resolutely to North Korea’s provocations,” the military added.
In response, the South Korean military said it also sent surveillance planes into the North to photograph its military installations.
The last time a North Korean drone crossed the border was five years ago in June 2017, when tensions between the two Koreas were last at their highest.
North Korea’s drones pose a threat to South Korea’s security as they could be used both to spy on the South and to launch an attack on it.
Earlier this month, the North claimed to have performed major tests needed to help it develop its first spy satellite, which could be used to monitor South Korea. It released an aerial photo of Seoul, which it said had been taken during the test.
Experts believe North Korea is working to refine and improve its weapons, while putting pressure on the United States to ease sanctions in any future negotiations. BBC
