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When Chinese and Russian aircraft entered Korean airspace
Summary
A look back at 22 December 2020, when South Korea scrambled jets, and at the Central African Republic deployments reported a day earlier.
What happened on 22 December 2020, when South Korea sent fighter jets to meet foreign military aircraft? South Korea said it scrambled jets after four Chinese and fifteen Russian military aircraft entered its air defence identification zone.
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said that China had notified it in advance of a joint military exercise between China and Russia. The statement placed the incursion in the context of a planned drill rather than an unannounced move.
A second theatre, a day earlier
On 21 December 2020, a different crisis drew in outside forces. Rwanda deployed what it called a "protection force" to the Central African Republic after its peacekeepers were attacked by rebel forces advancing on the capital, Bangui.
The Rwandan and Central African Republic governments accused former President François Bozizé of backing the rebels and plotting a coup. He denied the charge. Russia also sent troops and heavy weaponry to support the government.
The two reports concerned different regions, but both showed foreign military forces being sent or flown across borders in the final days of 2020.
