TIL Desk/World/Beijing/ China has for the first time landed strategic bombers on an island in the disputed South China Sea, drawing sharp reaction from the US which said that the move will “raise tensions and destabilise the region”.
China’s air force said that its fighter jets, including an H-6K bomber, had recently conducted take-off and landing training on an island reef in the resource-rich South China Sea (SCS).
The training had elevated the air force’s abilities of “reaching its full territory, assaulting in full time and space, and striking in full scope”, the Hong Kong-based newspaper quoted the People’s Liberation Air Force (PLAF) as saying.
Wang Minliang, a military expert, was quoted as saying that the bombers’ take-off and landing training was “beneficial to enhance the real combat ability against all kinds of security threats in the sea”. The Chinese move invoked sharp reaction from the US which said that it will “raise tensions and destabilise the region”.
A spokesman at the Pentagon, Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Logan, called the exercise an act of “China’s continued militarisation of disputed features in the South China Sea”report said.
