US sends surveillance aircraft to watch Chinese coastline as Taiwan starts major military exercise
- The E-8C was spotted near the Guangdong coast on Monday as the Taiwanese military started its annual training exercise
- Latest flight comes as relations between Washington and Beijing continue to deteriorate
A US surveillance aircraft passed close to China’s southern province of Guangdong in a rare operation believed to be designed to monitor any military activity along the coast.
The E-8C was spotted around 110km (68 miles) from the coast, according to an image published on Twitter by the South China Sea Strategic Situation Probing Initiative, a Peking University think tank.
The flight coincided with Taiwan’s largest annual military exercise, the Han Kuang, which started on Monday.
For the first time, the exercise featured Taiwan’s newly formed combined arms battalions and also involved cooperative special forces operations, torpedo target practice and live-fire drills involving reserve units.
02:06
Taiwan announces humanitarian aid plan for people fleeing Hong Kong
Before being spotted near Guangdong, the E-8C had been at Kadena airbase in Japan and was spotted flying over Tokyo early on Monday, according to images posted on Twitter by the No Callsign account.