A United States B-52 strategic bomber flew over artificial Chinese islands in the South China Sea recently and was contacted by Chinese ground controllers but continued its mission undeterred, a Pentagon spokesman said overnight.
“We conduct B-52 flights in international air space in that part of the world all the time,” Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook told a news briefing in response to a question about the flight. “There was one B-52 flight...there was an effort made by Chinese ground controllers to reach out to that aircraft and that aircraft continued its mission unabated. Nothing changed.”
Cook said he was not sure when exactly the flight occurred, though anohter unnamed US official reportedly told The Hill it had been at the weekend - shortly after US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter visited the region.
That account states the mission involved two bombers, and that the Chinese radio message had instructed the US military aircraft to “get away from our islands”.
The bombers pressed on.
Pentagon spokesman Navy Commander Bill Urban said the B-52s were conducting “routine operations.” and did not breach the 12 mile (22km) territorial claim China has made on the man-made islands.
Read More here
Read More here
No comments:
Post a Comment