US B-52 bombers in show of force
US Air Force says mission in accordance with international law
TOKYO/BEIJING— US Air Force B-52 bombers have carried out training in the vicinity of the South China Sea and the southern Japanese island of Okinawa, the Air Force said on Friday, in what a Chinese newspaper linked to China’s drills near Taiwan.
The US Air Force said the B52s took off from Andersen Air Force Base on the US Pacific island of Guam and “transited to the vicinity of the South China Sea” on Tuesday.
“The B-52Hs conducted training and then transited to the vicinity of Okinawa to conduct training with Usaf F-15C Strike Eagles, before returning to Guam,” it said.
“Continuous Bomber Presence (CBP) missions are intended to maintain the readiness of US forces. The US Pacific Command’s CBP missions, which have been routinely employed since March 2004, are in accordance with international law.”
Routine mission
An Air Force spokesperson said: “This was a routine mission.”
The exercise was reported in Taiwanese media this week, which speculated it could have been a warning from the United States to China following China’s stepped-up military presence around Taiwan, the self-ruled island Beijing claims as its own.
Chinese defense ministry spokesperson Wu Qian was asked about the US bombers at a news briefing on Thursday but would only say Chinese armed forces had the situation under control and would defend the country’s sovereignty, as always.
‘Encirclement patrols’
China has been issuing increasingly strident warnings to Taiwan to toe the line and has been flying military aircraft around the island in what China calls “encirclement patrols.”
Beijing fears Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, from the proindependence Democratic Progressive Party, wants to push for the island’s formal independence. Tsai says she wants to maintain the status quo and peace with China.
The widely read Chinese state-run tabloid the Global Times said in an editorial on Friday that if the US bombers were meant to send a message to Beijing about Taiwan, it would not work.
“The US cannot prevent the mainland exerting military pressure on Taiwan,” it said.
“Mainland military aircraft will fly closer and closer to Taiwan and in the end fly above the island,” the paper said.
Taiwan and the South China Sea are two major fault lines between Washington and Beijing.
China has been angered by US “freedom of navigation” patrols in the disputed South China Sea, where China has reclaimed land for military bases, and by US support for democratic Taiwan.
Sea trials
As part of China’s military modernization, its new aircraft carrier could soon begin sea trials, according to images on Chinese news portals this week of the vessel leaving its dock in the northern city of Dalian.
On Friday, the government warned shipping to keep away from an area off Dalian for a week, for what it called military activities, but gave no further explanation.—