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Fact Check: Indian Media Falsely Reports Taiwan Shot Down A Chinese Fighter Aircraft
Writer: Aditi Chattopadhyay
Aditi, part of the fact checking team of The Logical Indian likes to read, write, cook and laugh, in short live life as it is supposed to be. What makes her fascinated is to discover the truth behind a story and more often than not, it is either fact or myth at the end.
India, 5 Sep 2020 10:29 AM GMT
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The Logical Indian Fact check team investigates the claim that Taiwan shot down a Chinese fighter aircraft as it flew over the Taiwanese airspace.
News outlets such as News24, Times Now, and ABP News broadcasted visuals with the claim that Taiwan has shot down a Chinese fighter aircraft as it flew over the Taiwanese airspace.
On September 4, 'News Line IFE Live' tweeted visuals claiming them to be photographs from the incident. "#BrekingNews : #Taiwan air defence system shoots down #China #PLA - Airforce aircraft after intrusion into Taiwanese airspace," the tweet read.
#BrekingNews : #Taiwan air defence system shoots down #China #PLA - Airforce aircraft after intrusion into Taiwanese airspace. pic.twitter.com/Hs0qEOjfQK
— 🌈News Line IFE📡| ifenewsnetwork.com| (@NewsLineIFE) September 4, 2020
At the time of writing this article, the tweet was shared over 600,000 times. The outlet also published a report based on the tweet. It, later on, did a fact-check of the same claim.
Media Runs Unverified News:
According to a bulletin by TV9 Bharatvarsh, five fighter jets of China had trespassed Taiwanese airspace following which a jet was shot down.
A similar claim was reported by Times Now.
Reports: Sukhoi 35 PLA aircraft that was flying over Taiwanese airspace shot down. Neither the Chinese nor Taiwanese sides have confirmed the reports.
— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) September 4, 2020
Athar Khan with details. pic.twitter.com/aMpyqtwAD0
Major Surendra Poonia tweeted the video and wrote: "Chinese fighter Jet shot down by Taiwan."
It's Big & Bold
— Major Surendra Poonia (@MajorPoonia) September 4, 2020
Chinese fighter Jet shot down by Taiwan....
Now China will say
It got crashed due to tech glitch or it's not true pic.twitter.com/DZ6oxHQAmh
The Logical Indian received a request to verify the claims.
Claim:
Taiwan shot down a Chinese fighter aircraft as it flew over the Taiwanese airspace.
Fact Check:
The claim is false. Taiwan's Defence Ministry put out a statement which called It to be "fake news".
In response to rumors online that claim a Chinese Su-35 fighter jet had been shot down by Taiwan air defense systems, #ROCAirForce would like to categorically state this is fake news. We urge netizens to not spread it and strongly condemn this malicious act.
— 國防部 Ministry of National Defense, R.O.C. (@MoNDefense) September 4, 2020
"In response to the Internet spread of "Taiwan shot down a CCP SU-35 aircraft?" The Air Force Command solemnly refuted this (4) day that this is false information, false information, and completely untrue," reads the statement released by Ministry of National Defense, Taiwan.
According to Taiwanese Military experts, the country's defence is on the defensive and the Taiwan Air Force will not arbitrarily enter the territories of other countries to shoot down fighters from other countries. Therefore, the rumoured claim is unreasonable.
Further, several Open-source intelligence (OSINT) experts commented on viral clip being shared saying that the video could be from Guilin in China about 1,000 km away from Taiwan.
A 🇨🇳 jet of PLAAF's 2nd Air Division has creased near Guilin in Guangxi due to unidentified reasons.
— The Wolfpack🔎 (@TheWolfpackIN) September 4, 2020
Type is not clear but 2nd Air Div is known to operate J-10B/C.
The Quint found a tweet with another video where the user said that "In Guilin, Guangxi (over the 18th middle), the plane fell (Translated to English)".
广西桂林（18中那边），飞机掉下来了。 pic.twitter.com/5WsuLEGGbM
— 李鸣涛 (@milesli3) September 4, 2020
A keyword search showed that the crash took place at Guilin No. 18 Middle School.
On comparing geographical features of this location with the visuals in the viral videos, a similar running track was seen in both.
Below is a comparison of a scene from the video (left) and a screenshot from Google Maps (right):
Therefore, a crash which took place in Guilin, China, 1,000 km away from Taiwan, was reported by Indian media as Taiwan shooting down a Chinese fighter jet.
If you have any news that you believe needs to be fact-checked, please email us at factcheck@thelogicalindian.com or WhatsApp at 6364000343
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