China stages military drills near North Korea in a warning to the US that it will uphold the ‘balance of power’ in the region if Trump considers attacking Kim Jong-un
China carried out military drills in Yellow Sea and East China Sea
Chinese surveillance aircraft has been flying in ‘new regions’, military said
It is reportedly being carried out in response to the US-South Korean drills
The annual joint military exercise Vigilant Ace will run until Friday
By SARA MALM
DAILYMAIL.COM
5 December 2017
China has been staging military drills in the sea bordering North Korea, reportedly in response to the current US-South Korean joint exercise.
China’s Air Force said Monday that a surveillance aircraft had been conducting drills in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea to ‘improve combat-readiness and safeguard the country’s strategic interests’.
The surveillance flight would have taken place as U.S. fighter jets arrived in South Korea ahead of the annual joint drill which started yesterday.
The aircraft took a flight path not previously flown to regions they had never previously operated in, spokesman Shen Jinke said, according to a post on the Air Force’s official microblog.
It also coordinated with fighter jets, alert aircraft and guided missile forces, the post stated.
Experts say that the military drills were a response to the annual U.S.-South Korean drill, called Vigilant Ace, which will run until Friday.
‘China is showing that it can uphold the balance of power in the region,’ Wei Dongxu, a Beijing-based military analyst, told The Telegraph.
The annual U.S.-South Korean drill will see six F-22 Raptor stealth fighters to be deployed among the more than 230 aircraft taking part.
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