China's People's Liberation Army Air Force has announced that it will be organizing "regular" exercises that fly past the so-called first island chain — a key entryway into the western Pacific that includes Japan's Ryukyu Islands and Taiwan.
In the latest exercise, air force spokesman Shen Jinke said China had sent a fleet of aircraft that included H-6K bombers, Su-30 fighters and air tankers over the Bashi Strait and into the western Pacific for a "routine" combat simulation drill Monday, state media reported.
The fleet conducted reconnaissance and early warning training, sea surface cruising and in-flight refueling, and achieved all the drill's targets, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.