In an important milestone for the Chinese military, the country's Air Forces have announced plans to regularly fly beyond Japan and Taiwan into the Western Pacific. The flights are part of China's plan to use its new military might to assert itself in the region and back its claims to disputed territories in the South and East China Seas.

According to People's Liberation Army Air Force spokesman Shen Jinke, China will regularly send aircraft beyond the so-called "First Island Chain", an imaginary line stretching from Taiwan to Japan. China considers waters west of the First Island Chain as key to maintaining China's defense.

Despite the importance of the First Island Chain, China has had little experience venturing beyond it. The People's Liberation Army Air Force and People's Liberation Army Navy Air Force have long used obsolete, short-ranged aircraft and were unaccustomed to long flights over water without ground controllers to guide them.

China's military buildup means the open waters of the Pacific are more within reach. The distance from the Chinese mainland to the Miyako Strait, a body of water between Japan and Taiwan, is only 450 miles, and China now has long-range fighters, bombers, airborne early warning and control aircraft, and aerial refueling tankers capable of making the trip. Warplanes of the PLAAF finally did so for the first time only last year .

PLAAF J-11 fighter over the Bashi Strait, September 13th, 2016.

This latest exercise on September 12-13 involved Xian H-6K bombers, Su-30 fighters, and aerial refueling tankers passing through the so-called Bashi Strait near Taiwan. The presence of refueling tankers is curious since both the H-6K and Su-30 have ranges in excess of 1,000 miles, meaning they could easily make the flight without refueling. It's likely the tanker crews were being trained to in turn extend the ranges of the fighters and bombers even further in the future.

China claims the exercises are within international norms. PLAAF spokesperson Shen Jinke said "This is common practice for the air forces of sea-adjacent states, and a normal requirement for China's national defense and military-building."

China's behavior is all fairly normal behavior a nation with a coastline. That having been said China plans to "fly over island chains", which are almost certainly a reference to the Paracel and Spratly Islands it claims in the South China Sea, and the Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea. China's claim to all three chains are disputed by other countries, including the Philippines, Vietnam, Taian and Japan. Overflights by warplanes Chinese Air Force of such islands would be considered a sharp escalation of the territorial disputes and could lead to an air-to-air skirmish between China and one of its neighbors.

Via The Japan Times

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