Air Force denies training for specific threat / 空軍稱實彈演訓年度計劃 不具針對性　　　　　　　　　　

From Sept 19 until the middle of October the Republic of China Air Force will conduct live-fire training. It will use Mirage 2000 and IDF planes to train in the R9 and R11 training airspace, which is located in the east of the Taiwan Strait mid-line. Some are seeing this as a response to recent incidents in which Chinese military planes have flown along the western side of the Taiwan Strait mid-line, in the Chinese civil aviation airspace, M503. However, the ROC Ministry of National Defense denied this, saying it was a previously-scheduled annual routine training exercise. In January last year, China made a unilateral decision to draw an M503 flight route on the western side of the Taiwan Strait mid-line. From March last year, there have been many reports of Chinese military planes flying in the M503 air space, seeming to threaten Taiwan's military airspace. On Sept. 19 to 23, the Republic of China Air Force will conduct live air training with IDFs from the Taichung military airbase in Taiwan's R11 training air space. After this on Sept. 26 to 30, Mirage 2000 planes from the Hsinchu military airbase will conduct live air training in the R9 training air space. From Oct. 3 to 14, both types of military planes will conduct live air training in both the R9 and R11 training air spaces. Analysts see this as the Ministry of National Defense taking practical action to counter China. ==SUNG YU-NING Editor, Defense International Magazine== I think the implicit meaning is that we are not going to limit our activity in our air force training airspace just because you drew a flight path along there. However, the ROC Air Force released a press statement saying that this was an annual training exercise and was not training in response to any specific situation. ==TING CHUNG-WU ROC Air Force Spokesman== Every year we arrange live air training exercises and this has nothing to do with recent media reports. It was already scheduled. Although the response was low-key, not wanting the training to be misinterpreted, this live air training shows the ROC Air Force's determination to defend its airspace. TRANSLATED BY：CLARE LEAR 中國去年一月片面決定，在海峽中線西側畫設M503航路，並在去年三月啟用，這一年多來傳出中國軍機疑似多次在M503航路飛行，頗有威脅測試我國空防的意味。空軍決定9月19日到23日由空軍台中基地的IDF戰機在我國R11訓練空域進行空對空實彈演訓，接著9月26日到30日由空軍新竹基地的幻象2000在R9訓練空域進行空對空實彈演訓，10月3日至14日兩種主力戰機會再度於R9和R11進行第二次實彈演訓。外界大多認為這代表國防部以實際行動進行反制。 ==全球防衛雜誌資深編輯 宋玉寧== 我覺得它的意義只是在於說 我們空軍在訓練上面來講 我不會因為你的航線畫設 那去侷限到我原本的訓練空域 不過空軍發出新聞稿表示，這是年度訓練計畫，並非針對特定情況進行演訓。 ==空軍發言人 丁忠武== 每年都要例行安排的 這個實彈投射 和媒體報導的這些事件 其實都沒有關係的 本來就安排好了 雖然空軍態度低調，不希望外界過度渲染演訓目的，但這項實彈演訓的動作，確實展現空軍捍衛領空的決心與能量。 記者 張志雄 陳信隆 台北報導