Taiwan says pilot did not defect

TAIPEI, Taiwan — A Taiwanese air force jet has been missing for five days, the military says, prompting speculation about what happened — including the possibility that the pilot defected to mainland China.

Military search crews, as well as Taiwan’s coast guard, have turned up no sign of the French-made Mirage 2000 combat fighter or its pilot, the only person on board, Taiwanese Defense Ministry spokesman Chen Chung-chi said.

The pilot, an air force captain who had flown since 2013, lost contact with controllers during a routine training exercise Tuesday evening about 100 miles off the island’s northern coast. The jet disappeared about half an hour after takeoff at an altitude of 5,200 feet.

The prolonged search prompted questions at a legislative committee session Friday about whether the pilot, Ho Tzu-yu, had defected to nearby China. Chen rejected that possibility as impossible, although he acknowledged that Taiwanese officials have not asked China.

Chinese officials see selfruled Taiwan as part of their territory and insist on eventual unification, though government surveys on the island, 100 miles from the mainland, show most Taiwanese prefer autonomy.

Political friction since the 1940s, when Chiang Kaishek’s Nationalists fled to Taiwan after losing the Chinese civil war to the Communists, has led to military buildup on both sides as well as occasional defections.

China would have held a news conference if the pilot defected, Chen said, declining to speculate on what might have happened to the plane.

“We’re still searching and have never stopped searching,” Chen said. “We’re still looking in that area.”

Japan will be asked to help with the search, Taiwan’s Central News Agency reported. Some outlying Japanese islands are near Taiwan.