China’s air force spreads its wings in 70th anniversary video
- Footage of recent operations, including a joint exercise with Russian fighter planes, features in Armed Forces Day release
China’s air force has marked its 70th anniversary with a video highlighting the expansion of its mission to defend the country’s interests well beyond Chinese airspace.
The promotional video, released on Thursday as part of China’s Armed Forces Day celebrations, includes footage of the PLA Air Force’s recent joint operation with its Russian counterpart, in a further indication of deepening military cooperation between the two countries.
“Wherever the national interest expands to, our air and space force follows,” according to the introduction for the video, which includes patrols of the East China Sea, “guarding the South China Sea, advancing to the West Pacific, and encircling the island of Taiwan”.
The PLA Air Force, the introduction continued, not only had the “capability of flying far” but also the “determination to fly out”.
The two-minute long video features China’s newest aircraft, including the stealth fighter J-20 and strategic bomber H-6K, taking part in recent trainings and drills. Other PLA Air Force warplanes, such as the J-16, J-11, J-10B/C, Su-35 and Su-27, also make an appearance.
Footage of China’s H-6K bomber flying with a Russian Tu-95 bomber was probably filmed during last month’s joint training exercise between the two air forces, which flew through the air defence identification zones (ADIZs) of Japan and South Korea over the East China Sea and the Sea of Japan – also known as the East Sea.
In that operation, a Russian early warning plane allegedly entered contested airspace over the Dokdo islets, called Takeshima by Japan, which are claimed by both Japan and South Korea.
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Warning shots were fired by South Korean fighter jets and formal protests lodged by both the Japanese and South Koreans.
The PLA Air Force was founded in 1949 with help from the then-Soviet Union, and a strictly domestic mission. At that time, the Chinese air force lacked the capability to operate beyond a territorial defence role.
The video’s title – which references the PLA’s “founding mission” accompanying its troops to the battlefield – echoes Chinese President Xi Jinping’s emphasis on returning to the original course of the Chinese Communist Party.
The introduction says the PLA Air Force is a “strategic force and its strategic capability should match the ever-expanding national interests and ever-changing security situation”.
It goes on to say that the service “should speed up its capacity building in strategic strikes, strategic early warnings, space defence and strategic power projection”.
