The Chinese Air Force on Sunday sent more than 40 aircraft of various types to the West Pacific, via the Miyako Strait, for a routine drill on the high seas, a spokesperson said.
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Japan regularly scrambles jets in response to Chinese military aircraft near its sovereign airspace in the East China Sea, where the two countries are mired in a dispute over the sovereignty of the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands.
The drill is aimed at “testing far sea combat capabilities”, the statement said, and follows China’s first military flight over the Miyako strait a year ago. The military added that they later made a U-turn and flew back to the East China Sea without violating Japanese airspace.
The move comes after Japanese defense minister Tomomi Inada said earlier this month that Tokyo would increase its engagement in the South China Sea through joint training cruises with the US Navy, exercises with regional navies and capacity-building assistance to coastal nations. The drills were for the air force to protect China’s sovereignty and national security, China’s air force spokesman said.
Also on Sunday, China conducted “routine” patrols in the so-called Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ) in the East China Sea, which Beijing established in 2013.
China’s relations with Japan have been marred by a longstanding dispute over a string of islets in the East China Sea, known in China as the Diaoyu and in Japan as the Senkaku.
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“It is a warning from Beijing to Japan: if you are coming to meddle in the South China Sea, then I’m going to flex my muscles at your doorstep”, Macau-based military analyst Antony Wong Dong said to the South China Morning Post.
