Chinese Bombers Fly over Pacific off Japan

Tokyo, Jan. 5 (Jiji Press)–Two H-6 bombers of the Chinese military and six other aircraft flew south between the main island of Okinawa Prefecture and the island of Miyakojima, part of the southernmost Japan prefecture, and advanced into the Pacific Ocean on the afternoon of Dec. 29, the Japanese Defense Ministry’s Joint Staff said Monday. With the Chinese military conducting large-scale military drills around Taiwan from that day, the ministry is searching for the motives behind the flight and its relationship to the drills. A Japanese Air Self-Defense Force F-15 fighter jet scrambled in response. The Chinese aircraft did not intrude into Japan’s airspace. The two Chinese bombers seemed to head toward the U.S. territory of Guam. They later returned to the East China Sea by passing between the Okinawa main island and Miyakojima again. The aircraft were equipped with what appeared to be missiles. A frigate and a guided-missile destroyer of the Chinese navy were also confirmed to have passed through waters between the two Japanese islands, traveling back and forth between the East China Sea and the Pacific Ocean, between Dec. 27 and Tuesday, according to the Joint Staff. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]