US bomber mission over South China Sea risks inflaming tensions ahead of Asean defence summit
B-52 exercise over disputed waters risks Beijing’s ire as Pentagon chief James Mattis is expected to meet China’s defence minister Wei Fenghe in Singapore
Two US B-52 bombers have flown over the disputed South China Sea, in a move that could inflame tensions ahead of a key regional defence summit in Singapore where the US and Chinese defence ministers are slated to meet.
The two US Air Force bombers departed from the Andersen Air Force Base in Guam as part of a “routine training mission in the vicinity of the South China Sea”, the Pacific Air Forces said in a statement on Thursday.
Tuesday’s operation was part of the US Indo-Pacific Command’s continuous bomber presence operations since March 2004, and was “consistent with international law and [a] long-standing commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” it said.
The mission, which is likely to draw Beijing’s ire, was carried out while US Defence Secretary James Mattis was visiting Vietnam before heading to Singapore on Thursday.
There he will attend the annual Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) defence ministers’ meeting, where he is expected to meet his Chinese counterpart Wei Fenghe.
Mattis cancelled a proposed meeting with Wei in Beijing after a near-collision between a US and a Chinese warship last month. The US later said the meeting was called off after Mattis was told that Wei was not available to meet him.
US, Chinese warships within metres of collision in South China Sea
But Randall Schriver, the US assistant secretary of defence for Asian and Pacific security affairs, told reporters this week that Beijing had requested the Singapore meeting, signalling a potential upturn in military relations.