The U.S. military flew three Air Force planes — including two B-52 bombers — near Taiwan on Wednesday morning, the country's Defense Ministry and the U.S. Pacific Air Forces said, after China sent its own bombers and fighter jets for exercises near the island on Sunday and Monday.
The ministry said in a statement on its website Wednesday that a U.S. MC-130J special mission aircraft flew across the Taiwan Strait from north to south, while two B-52 bombers flew along Taiwan's east coast, also from north to south. The ministry said it was aware of the flights and had monitored them throughout.
The U.S. Pacific Air Forces also confirmed that two B-52s had flown from Andersen Air Force Base on the U.S. territory of Guam and conducted "synchronized training south of the Taiwan Strait with a U.S. Air Force MC-130J" from Kadena Air Base in Okinawa.