China conducts aerial reconnaissance exercise in new area near Korean Peninsula

A Y-8 naval reconnaissance aircraft from the Chinese Air Force

The training was conducted in response to the ongoing US-South Korean Vigilant Ace-18 joint aerial drills

The Chinese Air Force announced that it had recently carried out a reconnaissance exercise in a “new area” near the Korean Peninsula. This exercise clearly seems to have been a response to the ongoing US-South Korean Vigilant Ace-18 joint aerial drills.

Chinese Air Force spokesperson Shen Jinke appeared on China Central Television (CCTV) on Dec. 5 to say that the Chinese Air Force had conducted drills in the Yellow Sea (known in South Korea as the West Sea) and in the East China Sea. This was consistent with an announcement made the day before on the Air Force’s official Weibo microblog.

“This was designed to increase the military’s operational capability and to defend the state’s strategic interests. Our reconnaissance aircraft flew along a route not flown before and carried out an exercise in air space where we have not gone before,” Shen said. He added that jet fighters and early warning aircraft had participated in the exercise and that a surface-to-air missile unit had been mobilized as well, but did not specify the exact timing. The People’s Daily also covered the exercise, running a photo of an electronic reconnaissance aircraft taking off.

Chinese experts believe that this exercise targeted the Vigilant Ace-18 joint exercises launched by the South Korean and American air forces on Dec. 4. “The timing of this high-profile announcement by the PLA [People’s Liberation Army] is also a warning to Washington and Seoul not to provoke Pyongyang any further,” said military expert Li Jie in an interview with the South China Morning Post.

The J-20 stealth fighter, recently deployed by the Chinese Air Force

“Although the specific location of the drills was not revealed, military affairs specialist Song Zhongping said the air force may have flown over sensitive areas of China’s air defence identification zone (ADIZ) over the East China Sea that overlaps with Japanese and South Korean airspace,” the South China Morning Post reported.

After each American military exercise with South Korea or Japan in recent months, China has announced its own drills in neighboring areas. When three American aircraft carriers carried out joint exercises with the South Korean navy in the East Sea last month, China immediately released information about its own large-scale exercises. According to the announcement, Chinese warships and jet fighters had initiated drills the week before to repel enemy warships using missiles and ship guns.

The general assessment was that this action was clearly aimed at the American aircraft carrier exercises. And the day after the US and Japanese air forces conducted joint exercises above the East China Sea this past September, China announced its own large-scale naval exercises without specifying the timeframe. Such a pattern appears to indicate that China will not simply sit by and watch as the US partners with South Korea and Japan to carry out exercises that China regards as shows of force.

China has been critical of US exercises with South Korea and Japan, which it believes are basically unhelpful for resolving the situation on the Korean Peninsula, and the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has urged related countries to avoid provoking each other. But another view is that the military exercises that China has conducted in response may be raising tensions, too.

By Kim Oi-hyun, Beijing correspondent

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