Taiwan Foreign Minister, Joseph Wu, remarked in a tweet that China's bombers were "useless" against the novel coronavirus, in response to manoeuvres by a fleet of Chinese military aircraft on Feb. 9 and 10.

For the 2nd day, #PLAAF combat aircraft flew close to #Taiwan. @iingwen urged Beijing to deal with the #Wuhan virus, not threaten the country militarily. Listen, H-6 bombers are useless against #Coronavirus. JW pic.twitter.com/irAKV4G4n7

— 外交部 Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ROC (Taiwan) 🇹🇼 (@MOFA_Taiwan) February 10, 2020

According to Taiwanese media Focus Taiwan and Reuters, Taiwan had to scramble its own air force jets for two days in a row in response to Chinese aircraft circling the island and intruding its airspace on two separate occasions.

Tsai Ing-wen calls for China to focus on controlling outbreak

Wu's sentiments were echoed in a Facebook post by Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen, who said that such actions during the outbreak of the coronavirus were both "meaningless" and "unnecessary".

She also stated that the Chinese government should focus its efforts on controlling the outbreak instead to ease regional and international tensions.

Tsai, who hails from a pro-independence political party, was recently re-elected as President of Taiwan for a second term.

What did China do?

1st incident: Chinese aircraft circled half of the island

According to a statement by Taiwan's Ministry of National Defence, on Feb. 9, a fleet of Chinese aircraft circled half of the island, consisting of an unspecified number of J-11 jet fights, H-6 bombers, and KJ-500 warning aircraft.

In response, Taiwan sent out multiple F-16s carrying missiles to follow the planes, along with other reconnaissance aircraft and air defence forces.

The Ministry of National Defence added that the long-distance flight of the Chinese planes "have impacted the safety and stability of the region and have threatened the peace among related parties in the region."

The Chinese aircraft had supposedly flown into the Bashi channel south of Taiwan, then out into the Pacific Ocean, before returning to base via the Miyako Strait between Japan's islands of Miyako and Okinawa.

Focus Taiwan further reported that the mission was confirmed by a spokesperson of China's People Liberation Army's Eastern Theater Command, Zhang Chunhui, who said that China has both the resolve and ability to quell attempts by Taiwan to separate from the mainland.

2nd incident: Bombers enter Taiwan's airspace

As for the second incident, several H-6 bombers and other aircraft were reported to have entered Taiwan's airspace briefly on Feb. 10 after crossing the "median line" of the Taiwan Strait, both the Ministry of National Defence and The Guardian further reported.

In a manner similar to the previous incident, the ministry highlighted that this fleet had also flown over the Bashi Channel south of Taiwan and into the Western Pacific Ocean at around 10am, before returning to their bases by the same route.

This fleet was also met by F-16s from Taiwan, which broadcasted warnings to the Chinese aircraft.

The ministry added that the Chinese aircraft then returned to the airspace of the Taiwan Strait's "median line”.

Reuters further reported that this instance is also only the second time since 2016 in which Taiwan has stated that Chinese aircraft have crossed into its airspace.

On Feb. 11, Taiwan's Premier Su Tseng-chang was further quoted by Al-Jazeera as stating that such actions had "harassed regional peace”.

He added:

"We still hope China could really alleviate people's suffering due to the disease outbreak. China should use all the power it has to help its people.”

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Top image from @MOFA_Taiwan Twitter