US B-52s fly over South and East China Seas

WASHINGTON: US B- 52 bombers have recently conducted transit operations in the South China Sea and East China Sea, the Pentagon said, amid soaring tensions with Beijing over trade tariffs.

Late Tuesday the heavy bombers “participated in a regularly scheduled, combined operation in the East China Sea,” Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Dave Eastburn said.

A defence official said the nuclear- capable aircrafts were escorted by Japanese fighters and the flight was part of the Pentagon’s ‘continuous bomber presence’ in the region.

Earlier in the week, B- 52s flew through “international airspace over the South China Sea,” Eastburn said.

China has claimed large swaths of the strategic waterway and built up a series of islands and maritime features, turning them into military facilities.

Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam have competing claims to the region, and an international maritime tribunal ruled in 2016 that China’s claims have no legal basis.

Eastburn said the flights were part of ‘ regularly scheduled operations.’

The United States rejects China’s territorial claims and routinely says the military will “continue to fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows at times and places of our choosing.”

Washington this week enacted new tariffs against China covering another US$ 200 billion of its imports. — AFP