Did Taiwan shoot down a Chinese jet fighter?
The answer is no. And that’s good news, because the last thing that the current Asian tinderbox needs is being set aflame with rumors of war.
The furor began when Taiwanese social media went abuzz with video that purportedly showed the wreckage of a People’s Liberation Army Air Force Su-35 fighter destroyed by Taiwanese air defenses. Other video supposedly showed the injured pilot laying on the ground.
The Taiwanese tweets were quickly picked up by Indian social media. Recent border clashes between Chinese and Indian troops in the Himalayas have heightened tensions between the two nations. With China deploying additional jets on the Indian border, and India sending its new French-made Rafale fighters to the region, the sight of a destroyed Chinese jet must have gladdened the hearts of Indian nationalists.
Adding credence to the reports was the fact that Chinese fighters have entered Taiwanese airspace in recent months. Taiwanese fighters intercepted them, though no shots were exchanged.
Unfortunately for the nationalists, hopes of a China-Taiwan military clash were quickly dashed. Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense issued a categorial denial that the incident ever occurred.
In response to rumors online that claim a Chinese Su-35 fighter jet had been shot down by Taiwan air defense systems, #ROCAirForce would like to categorically state this is fake news,” the Ministry of Defense announced on Twitter. We urge netizens to not spread it and strongly condemn this malicious act.”
Though the video and photos appear to show some kind of crash, it’s not clear what aircraft was involved, nor how the crash happened. It seems more plausible that a Chinese fighter suffered an inflight emergency and crashed, as frequently happens with warplanes around the world.
What’s significant here is how aggressively Taiwan’s government moved to quash reports of hostilities between Chinese and Taiwanese forces, even to the point of denouncing the reports as “fake news” and a “malicious act.” Clearly, Taiwanese leaders were alarmed at the thought of what could this lead to, and fear that someone is deliberately trying to provoke a war.
And the consequences of a misreported military incident involve more than China and Taiwan. The U.S. has pledged support to Taiwan against Beijing’s vow to reunify Taiwan with the mainland. U.S. ships and aircraft operate in the South China Sea near Taiwan: China claims these waters as its own, despite claims by other Asian nations. If Chinese and Taiwanese forces had gone on alert because of reports that a Chinese plane had been destroyed, and actual hostilities had occurred, the U.S. could have been dragged in.
Presumably, the social media frenzy will fade, though it would be surprising to see conspiracy theories arise that claim China is “hiding the truth.” However, the truth is that any event today can be misinterpreted – even for the most innocent of reasons – and yet quickly broadcast and rebroadcast over social media.
And that can have very dangerous consequences.
No comments:
Post a Comment