China-India border dispute: PLA bombers pictured close to troubled region

Images released by Central Theatre Command show at least three Xian H-6 bombers at base thought to be in Tibet

Western Theatre Command says its troops took part in a live-fire air-defence exercise in a ‘northwestern desert’, believed to be in Xinjiang

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China is thought to have deployed as least three H-6 bombers near its disputed border with India. Photo: Weibo

Published: 10:00pm, 9 Sep 2020Updated: 2:08am, 10 Sep 2020

China appears to have deployed strategic bombers close to its border with India amid ongoing skirmishes between the two countries.

In photographs published on Tuesday on an official social media account of the People’s Liberation Army’s Central Theatre Command, at least three Xian H-6 bombers and a Xian Y-20 airlifter were shown at an airfield thought to be in the Tibet autonomous region.

The captions accompanying the images on Weibo – China’s Twitter-like platform – said ground crews had been stationed at a “high-altitude” base on a “plateau” – a description normally associated with Tibet.

They had been tasked with maintaining and refuelling the aircraft, the captions said.

Among the aircraft that can be identified from the images are H-6H bombers, which have a combat range of 2,500km (1,550 miles) and can carry heavy air-to-ground or anti-ship cruise missiles.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, a brigade from the 77th Group Army under the PLA’s Western Theatre Command said they had taken part in a live-fire air-defence exercise in a “northwestern desert” – a phrase often used to refer to Xinjiang, the far western Chinese region close to its border with India’s Ladakh, where the dispute is taking place.

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