Taiwan confirms Chinese military plane crashed into South China Sea

China never acknowledged the incident, but as per the Taiwanese media there was a sudden drop off in Y-8 flights through Taiwan's air defense identification zone (ADIZ).

Taiwan's National Security Bureau (NSB) has confirmed that a Chinese military aircraft crashed into the South China Sea earlier this month.

Earlier there were reports that a Chinese military patrol plane had crashed off the coast of Vietnam. (Reuters / Representative illustration)

NSB Director-General Chen Ming-tong on March 10 confirmed that a People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) plane had crashed into the South China Sea on March 1, according to Taiwan News.

Earlier there were reports that a Chinese military patrol plane had crashed off the coast of Vietnam.

However, China never acknowledged the incident, but as per the Taiwanese media there was 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.

Taiwan Society for Strategic Studies researcher Chang Ching on March 7 decried media report as "nonsense," asserting that China's military is more open than in the past and that if a crash had occurred, it would not have covered it up, Taiwan News reported.