TENSIONS: Aside from encircling Taiwan, the planes also flew through the air defense identification zones of Japan and South Korea, which scrambled fighter jets in response

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 19, 2017
By: Reuters, BEIJING

China’s air force yesterday carried out another round of long-range drills, flying into the Sea of Japan (known as the “East Sea” in South Korea), prompting South Korean jets to scramble, and again around Taiwan amid growing tension over Beijing’s assertiveness in the region.

China has in recent months ramped up its long-range air force drills, particularly around Taiwan.

Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force spokesman Shen Jinke (申進科) said in a statement that fighter and bomber aircraft flew through the Tsushima Strait that separates South Korea from Japan and into international waters in the Sea of Japan, adding that the Sea of Japan is not Japan’s, and the drills were lawful and reasonable.

He described the exercises as routine and pre-planned.

In Seoul, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said that five Chinese military planes were spotted entering the South Korean air defense identification zone, and fighter jets scrambled in response.    [FULL  STORY]