(People’s Daily Online) 16:29, July 21, 2017
Japan’s defense ministry Thursday evening said 10 Chinese military aircraft circled around Taiwan earlier on that day, an action deemed by experts as “unusual.”
According to information released by Japan, two separate batches of Chinese military aircraft, including 8 H-6 bombers, a Y-8 electronic jamming plane, and a Y-8 reconnaissance plane, flew around China’s Taiwan Island clockwise and counter-clockwise via the Miyako Strait.
The electronic warfare plane is believed to have participated in the PLA’s training mission around Taiwan for the first time.
According to Taiwan’s military expert Lv Lishi, the PLA has been increasing the number of bombers training near the island since the end of last year, and has started training in different batches from different directions, which is quite “unusual.”
Earlier this month, the Japanese defense ministry said Chinese air force flew six H-6 bombers through the Miyako Strait on July 13, which China said was a routine exercise that was both legal and legitimate.
“The Chinese military will organize similar exercises far out at sea according to the regional situation and mission needs in the future,” said Chinese defense ministry spokesperson Ren Guoqiang on July 14. “There is no need to panic or hype up the lawful actions of the Chinese military, and relevant parties should ‘get used to it,’” he added.
Responding to another earlier report that a US Navy destroyer entered the Taiwan Strait to track Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning en route to Qingdao from Hong Kong, the defense ministry said China’s naval forces are fully aware of any situation occurring in waters around China, and have measures to effectively deal with any situation.