BEIJING (Reuters) - China's air force sent bombers and fighter jets on "combat patrols" near contested islands in the South China Sea, in a move a senior colonel said was part of an effort to normalize such drills and respond to security threats.
The exercises come at a time of heightened tension in the disputed waters after an arbitration court in The Hague ruled last month that China did not have historic rights to the South China Sea.
The air force sent several H-6 bombers and Su-30 fighter jets to inspect the airspace around the Spratly Islands and Scarborough Shoal, Senior Colonel Shen Jinke of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force said, according to state news agency Xinhua.
The patrols included surveillance and refueling aircraft, Xinhua said, although it did not say when they occurred.
Xi has a couple of squads of soldiers on his mud pile out in the South China Sea. He expends a whole air squadron to keep an eye out. That is not a smart general.
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