China sent a group of H-6K strategic bombers near Taiwan for “confrontation drills,” Chinese state media reported late Sunday, just days ahead of an expected meeting between US President Donald Trump and China’s leader Xi Jinping.
H-6K bombers are capable of carrying nuclear weapons.
Without specifying a date, the Chinese state television’s military channel reported that air force units of the Chinese military’s Eastern Theater Command – responsible for operations around Taiwan – conducted combat training that focused on reconnaissance, early warnings, air blockades and precision strikes in key areas.
The report aired footage of the J-10 fighter jets taking off, and H-6 bombers releasing missiles. A Chinese soldier was quoted as saying “Taiwan’s coast line is clearly visible up in the (air).”
Taiwan’s Defense Ministry publicizes daily updates on Chinese military activities around the island’s waters and airspace. On Monday morning, the ministry said four sorties of Chinese aircraft were detected, without specifying any abnormalities.
The ministry said in a statement that the Chinese report was “clearly a public-opinion operation aimed at intimidation.”
Some context: China regularly sends its fighter jets, drones and warships to airspace and waters around Taiwan, and in recent years has ramped up military, diplomatic and economic pressure on the self-ruled island democracy, which Beijing claims as its own – despite having never ruled over it.
The US maintains close unofficial ties with Taiwan, and is bound by law to sell arms to the island for its self-defense, but it remains deliberately vague on whether it would intervene in the event of a Chinese invasion.
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