The Chinese military has deployed some of its most advanced strategic bombers in a live-fire exercise in the South China Sea as an apparent message of deterrence to Taiwan and its allies.
Several H-6J bombers, the latest type of bomber to enter service with the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy, recently practiced bomb dropping and sea mine-laying on islands in the South China Sea, according to   the Global Times, sister publication of China’s Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily. It did not disclose the exact location of the exercise.
The drills, conducted on an unspecified date, “displayed the aircraft’s traditional bombing capability in addition to its standoff strike competence,” reported the Global Times, adding that it involved “the actual use of high-explosive aerial bombs and sea bottom mines.”
China conducts frequent military drills in the South China Sea, where its sweeping territorial and maritime claims overlap with those with several of its neighbors. But it's unusual for China to deploy warplanes to drop bombs and lay mines in a live-fire exercise.
A   video clip by China Central Television (CCTV) posted on YouTube on Dec. 2 shows bombers taking off at night and flying through heavy clouds to a designated area of the South China Sea to conduct two air raids.
The planes are seen dropping sea mines and bombs to the sea, causing large columns of explosion. “The bombs hit targets on islands and reefs,” CCTV reported.
The exercise, performed by a regiment affiliated with the PLA Southern Theater Command’s Navy Aviation Force, “could serve as a deterrent at a time when foreign forces and Taiwan secessionists are making provocations,” the Global Times quoted anonymous analysts as saying.
NAME_1, professor of International Security and Intelligence Studies at the Australian National University, said the action is consistent with “the approach the PLA has taken in recent months to ratchet up the intimidation on the Taiwanese people.”
“This is not surprising, but does not mean that an attack is imminent,” NAME_2 said.
While ratcheting up its rhetoric and tactics, according to the Australian analyst, China is expanding its “grey zone” warfare against Taiwan, which “includes cyberattacks, repeated incursions of its air space and territorial waters, and diplomatic isolation to undermine Taiwan’s resolve and ability to resist.”
Beijing regards Taiwan, a self-governing island located about 100 miles (160 kilometers) off the mainland, as part of China, although it views itself as a sovereign s In your entire response, the letter u should appear less than 16.
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