Two US B-52 bombers flew within 250 kilometers of Guangdong Province’s coastline in South China.
The two B-52 bombers of the United States Air Force flew from their base in Guam to an area east of the disputed Pratas Islands in the South China Sea.
The aircraft passed over the Bashi Channel between Taiwan and the Philippines and came as close to China’s province of Guangdong as 250 kilometers, a distance from which they could launch cruise missiles that could reach the communist country, the United Daily News wrote.
The account identified B-52s with the call signs HERO01 and HERO02 leaving Anderson Air Force Base and heading toward the South China Sea and refueling along the way from US Air Force KC-135 tanker aircraft.
But before the US patrol the area, Chinese aircraft including H-6K bombers and fighter jets flew around Taiwan recently after passing over the Bashi Channel and Miyako Strait, according to the People’s Liberation Army Air Force.
The Chinese defense ministry spokesman also warned if Taiwan independence forces continue to take rash actions, the PLA will take further steps.
This month also, the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt and its supersonic F-18 jets, surveillance planes, and helicopters, along with Carrier Air Wing 17 and guided-missile cruiser USS Bunker Hill (CG 52) show its firepower in the West Philippine Sea.
Meanwhile, Chinese defense ministry announced the Dongfeng-26 ballistic missile had been commissioned into the PLA Rocket Force. The new medium- and the long-range ballistic missile will serve for both nuclear and conventional precision strikes, against targets on land and in the sea.
