Beijing’s latest attempt to impose sovereignty over the highly contested island in the South China Sea was demonstrated this week by the deployment of two long-range H-6 bombers around the Scarborough Shoal, according to satellite pictures acquired by Reuters.
China did not publicize the deployment, which took place before U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s trip to the Philippines, which also claims the shoal within its 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone.
Questions from Reuters about the scope of the deployment and if it was planned to coincide with Hegseth’s trip were not immediately answered by China’s defense ministry.
At the eastern tip of the contested Scarborough Shoal, Chinese H-6 bombers are flying. Image Source: Reuters
Requests for response were not immediately answered by military and Philippine National Security Council officials.
Hegseth said China’s actions made deterrence in the South China Sea important during a visit to Manila on Friday, reinforcing the United States’ “ironclad commitment” to its mutual defense treaty with the Philippines.
Maxar Technologies’ photos from Monday depict two planes east of Scarborough Shoal, also known as “Huangyan Dao” in China.
In the South China Sea, Chinese H-6 bombers fly east of the contested Scarborough Shoal. Image Source: Reuters
Since taking de facto control of the shoal in 2012, China has occasionally tried to block the atoll’s mouth, where Chinese coast guard vessels have often battled with Philippine fisherman in recent years.
The Philippine Coast Guard accused the Chinese navy last month of engaging in risky flying maneuvers in the area.
Beijing disregarded a 2016 ruling by an international arbitration panel in The Hague that China’s claims lacked legal support.
Maxar told Reuters in an email that the aircraft in the pictures were H-6 bombers and that processing satellite photos of rapidly moving objects produced “rainbow hues” near them.
But regional security analysts suggested it was doubtful that the flights’ timing was coincidental.
This was “a signal that China has a sophisticated military,” according to Peter Layton of the Griffith Asia Institute in Australia.
“You (the United States) have the capacity to launch a long-range attack; so do we, and in greater quantities,” could have been the bombers’ second message. “Obviously not serendipity,” he continued.
Starting with landings on upgraded runways in the disputed Paracel islands in 2018, regional military attachés claim that China has progressively increased the number of H-6 bomber deployments into the South China Sea as its military presence has increased.
Based on a Soviet-era design, the jet-powered H-6 has been updated to carry a variety of land-attack and anti-ship missiles, some of which can fire ballistic missiles with nuclear tips.
As part of larger air and sea operations by the Chinese military’s Southern Theatre Command, the bombers were used in war scenario exercises in late December near Scarborough and in October over Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory.
According to the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, the command, which is responsible for the South China Sea, has two regiments of the bombers.
The defense ministry’s statement at the time that the December drills were intended to “resolutely preserve China’s national sovereignty and security, and maintain peace in the South China Sea” raised awareness of them.
The ministry shared pictures of planes flying over the shoal, but there are not many satellite photos showing patrols in action.
It is unknown how high the H-6s were flying in the vicinity of the shoal.
China’s claim of sovereignty is rejected by Taiwan’s government, which maintains that the destiny of the island is up to its citizens.
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