Indian Media Outlets Widely Claim Taiwan Shot Down a Chinese Su-35 - Taipei Quickly Debunks False Information

A wide range of Indian media sites including EurAsian Times have claimed that Taiwan’s armed forces shot down a Su-35 ‘4++ generation’ fighter jet belonging to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force. The report came amid high tensions in the Taiwan Strait, where Chinese J-11B and Su-35 fighters have been relied on heavily to counter perceived threats to Chinese security. It also comes after growing calls in India to form closer defence ties to Taiwan, officially a non-state actor which lacks any representation at the United Nations, in order to counter the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Taiwan, officially the Republic of China, has been technically at war with the PRC for over 70 years, with the government in Taipei claiming to be the rightful sovereign over the entire Chinese nation. Despite tensions, however, cases of open hostilities between the two rival Chinese governments have been negligible over the past few decades, with Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defence issuing a statement that the claim of it shooting down a Chinese Su-35 fighter jet was 'false information'.

China’s PLA Air Force fields just two dozen Russian-built Su-35 fighters which form a single squadron, making it the least widely used combat jet in the country’s armed forces. The aircraft were purchased under a $2 billion deal in 2015, which also included technology transfers from Russia which are thought to have pertained to three dimensional thrust vectoring engine technologies. Although official Russian sources have indicated that there is a possibility of a future Su-35 sale to China, the East Asian state’s own defence sector is capable of producing much higher end aircraft domestically today including platforms such as the J-10C, J-16 and J-20 which include features that the Russian platform notably lacks such as AESA radar guided missiles and stealth coatings. The possibility of a sale of an enhanced Su-35 derivative, possibly accompanied by further technology transfers, or else of more advanced Su-57 fighters, has also been raised by both Russian and foreign sources. Regarding the cause for Indian reports of a Chinese Su-35 crash, speculated reasons have included attempts by pro-Western elements to discredit the Su-35 - an aircraft India is currently thought to be considering for its own Air Force instead of purchase of Western aircraft - or else uncontrolled speculation by local media outlets.