Chinese long-range bombers join drills over South China Sea
| Chinese long-range bombers join drills over South China Sea |
BEIJING (AP) — China said Thursday that long-range bombers were among the aircraft that took part in recent aerial drills over the South China Sea amid rising tensions between Washington and Beijing over the strategic waterway.
The exercises included nighttime takeoffs and landings and simulated long-range attacks, Defense Ministry spokesperson Ren Guoqiang said. Among the planes were H-6G and H-6K bombers, upgraded versions of planes long in use with the People's Liberation Army Air Force and the People’s Liberation Army Navy Air Force, Ren said.
He said the exercises had been previously scheduled and were aimed at boosting pilot abilities to operate under all natural conditions. It wasn't clear whether live bombs were used.
Ren's statement appeared to distance the drills from recent accusations exchanged between the sides over China's claim to virtually all of the South China Sea, which it has buttressed in recent years by building man-made islands equipped with runways.
The U.S. this month for the first time rejected China’s claims outright, prompting Beijing to accuse it of seeking to create discord between China and its neighbors. Five other governments also exercise claims in the South China Sea, through which around $5 trillion in trade is transported annually.
Previously, U.S. policy had been to insist that maritime disputes between China and its smaller neighbors be resolved peacefully through U.N.-backed arbitration. But in a statement, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the U.S. now regards virtually all Chinese maritime claims outside its internationally recognized waters to be illegitimate. The shift does not involve disputes over land features that are above sea level, which are considered to be “territorial” in nature.
“The world will not allow Beijing to treat the South China Sea as its maritime empire,” Pompeo said.
Although the U.S. will officially continue to remain neutral in the territorial disputes, the announcement means the administration is in effect siding with governments which oppose Chinese assertions of sovereignty over maritime areas surrounding contested islands, reefs and shoals.
In other comments Thursday, Ren criticized stepped-up military cooperation between the U.S. and Taiwan, the self-governing island democracy that China claims as its territory, to be brought under its control by force if necessary. Washington and Taipei have no formal diplomatic ties but the U.S. is the island's key provider of defensive arms and is legally obligated to treat threats to the island as matters of grave concern.
“The U.S. must realize that China is destined to unify (with Taiwan), and China is destined to realize its great rejuvenation,"" Ren said.
US Navy exercises military drills in South China Sea
The Wall Street Journal
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| Map showing disputed claims in the South China Sea. (AFP Photo/) |
The Pentagon said Thursday it was "concerned" about Chinese military exercises around a disputed archipelago in the South China Sea, noting the maneuvers will "further destabilize" the region.
"The Department of Defense is concerned about the People's Republic of China (PRC) decision to conduct military exercises around the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea on July 1-5," the Pentagon said in a statement.
The activities "further destabilize the situation" in the area claimed by China, Vietnam and Taiwan, it said.
Such exercises also violate Beijing's "commitments under the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea to avoid activities that would complicate or escalate disputes and affect peace and stability."
The declaration, signed by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries, said that all parties would "avoid activities that would complicate or escalate disputes and affect peace and stability."
The exercises "are the latest in a long string" of Chinese actions "to assert unlawful maritime claims and disadvantage its Southeast Asian neighbors in the South China Sea."
The Pentagon urged "all parties to exercise restraint and not undertake military activities that might aggravate disputes" in the region, and said it will continue to monitor Chinese military activity.
The Chinese exercises are taking place amid a rise in US-China tensions over the novel coronavirus epidemic, in which Washington has accused Beijing of hiding and downplaying the initial outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan.
Washington rejects Beijing's territorial claim to much of the South China Sea, including the Paracels.
The region is believed to have valuable oil and gas deposits.
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Philippines warns China of 'severest response' over drills
| Philippines warns China of 'severest response' over drills |
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippine foreign secretary warned China on Friday of “the severest response” if ongoing Chinese military exercises in the disputed South China Sea spill over to Philippine territory.
Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said China’s People’s Liberation Army has been staging exercises off the Paracel Islands since July 1 and Chinese maritime officials have prohibited all vessels from navigating within the area of the maneuvers.
After checking the coordinates of the no-entry zone, where the Chinese military maneuvers are being staged, Locsin said the waters off the Paracels, which are also claimed by Vietnam, “do not impinge on Philippine territory” although he raised some concern.
“Should the exercises spill over to Philippine territory, then China is forewarned that it will be met with the severest response, diplomatic and whatever else is appropriate,” Locsin said in a statement without elaborating.
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More than 400 US Army paratroopers flew almost 5,000 miles to practice a long-range Pacific island invasion
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| Paratroopers of the 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, U.S. Army Alaska, demonstrate a joint forcible entry into Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, June 30 |
U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Divine Cox
US Army Alaska airborne troops flew from Alaska to Guam, where they jumped Tuesday and seized control of the airfield at Andersen Air Force Base in a mock invasion.
The exercise comes amid tensions with rival powers and as the US military attempts to demonstrate its ability to project power at great distances, something it has been doing with bombers and aircraft carriers.
These images show how the mock invasion went down.
Hundreds of US Army paratroopers practiced launching a long-range invasion of a Pacific island on Tuesday as the US military flexes its muscles in the region.
Here's what it looked like.
US Army airborne troops flew nearly 5,000 miles to execute a mock invasion of Guam.
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U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Richard Ebensberger |
Over 400 paratroopers flew from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska to Andersen Air Force Base in Guam, where the soldiers jumped and practiced seizing an airfield, which would clear the way for follow-on forces in a real combat situation.
US Army Alaska called it the exercise, which appears to be part of the Department of Defense's ongoing efforts to master modern expeditionary warfare tactics for possible combat in the Pacific theater, the "largest airborne operation here in recent memory."
The paratroopers flew in US Air Force C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft, gearing up for the jump en route.
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| US Army paratroopers jump over Guam |
U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Divine Cox
The participating airborne troops are part of the 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division of US Army Alaska, the Army's only Pacific airborne brigade able to deploy rapidly anywhere in the world.
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| US paratroopers at Andersen |
U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Divine Cox
The "scenario tested our ability to execute real-world missions and demonstrated that we are capable of deploying anywhere in the US Indo-Pacific Command area at a moment's notice," Col. Christopher Landers, the commander of US Army Alaska's 4-25 IBCT(A), explained in a release.
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| US paratroopers at Andersen |
U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Michael S. Murphy
Source: US Army Alaska
The invasion drill, part of ongoing exercises in the Marianas, comes amid tensions with China in strategic airspace and waterways and as the US attempts to demonstrate its ability to project power in a clear message to rivals.
U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Divine Cox
China has constructed military outposts, including some with operational airfields that have at times hosted fighters and bombers, across the disputed South China Sea, a contested waterway where the US and Chinese militaries have had some "risky" run-ins in recent months.
The US demonstrated reach with synchronized flights through Europe and the Pacific in May with US-based B-52H Stratofortress and B-2 Spirit bombers.
U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Michael S. Murphy
STRATCOM said at the time that the "dynamic employment" of these long-range bombers "showcased the United States' ability to conduct synchronized strategic deterrence anywhere in the world with a ready, lethal force."
US-based bombers have been flying regularly over Europe and the Pacific in recent months.
And, as another demonstration of US military power projection capabilities, the US Navy has three carrier strike groups in the Pacific, where the service just conducted back-to-back dual carrier operations in a week.
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| A US paratrooper at Andersen |
U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Richard Ebensberger
"Dual carrier operations," one strike group commander said, "demonstrate our commitment to regional allies, our ability to rapidly mass combat power in the Indo-Pacific, and our readiness to confront all those who challenge international norms that support regional stability."
Read the original article on Business Insider
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Ðảo Phú Lâm
(Woody Island) thuộc chủ quyền của VNCH,
Trung cộng đã chiếm đảo Phú Lâm 21/12/1956. Không ảnh Google™ captured by VNR 2020/06/30
VNR Vietnam Review
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