TAIPEI, Taiwan—Beijing may be deploying a new strategy to test Taipei’s reactions after a small Chinese civilian plane flew very close to one of Taiwan’s outlying islands, Taiwan’s defense ministry said on Feb. 15. The ministry confirmed a Chinese civilian Y-12, a twin-engine turboprop utility aircraft, flew near Dongyin Island on Feb. 5, part of Taiwan’s Matsu archipelago that is located off southeastern China’s Fujian Province. The aircraft did not enter Matsu’s air space, the ministry said, adding the plane entered what it called Taiwan’s “defense reaction zone.” “On the Dongyin incident, of course, we have made a preliminary judgment and we cannot rule out that they are using civilian aircraft to test the responses of our military,” Shih Shun-wen, spokesperson for Taiwan’s defense ministry, told reporters on Tuesday. “The military will definitely take corresponding actions, but it will take various contingency actions without there being a minor incident which …
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