Images show 2 Chinese bombers deployed near Panatag
‘NOT SERENDIPITY’ A Chinese H-6 bomber flies east of Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal in this satellite photo taken
on March 24, four days ahead of US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s Asian tour. —MAXAR TECHNOLOGIES/REUTERS
HONG KONG—China deployed two long-range H-6 bombers around Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal this week, in Beijing’s latest move to assert sovereignty over the hotly disputed atoll in the South China Sea, satellite images obtained by Reuters showed.
The deployment, which was not publicized by China, came ahead of US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s visit to the Philippines, which also claims the shoal that lies within its exclusive economic zone of 370.4 kilometers (200 nautical miles).
Sending ‘a signal’
China’s defense ministry did not immediately respond to questions from Reuters on the scale of the deployment or whether it was timed to coincide with Hegseth’s trip.
Officials from the Philippines’ National Security Council and Armed Forces did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
During a visit to Manila on Friday, Hegseth said China’s actions made deterrence necessary in the South China Sea.
Monday’s images taken by Maxar Technologies show two aircraft east of Panatag, which China calls “Huangyan Dao.”
In recent years, Chinese coast guard vessels had confronted Philippine fishermen near the mouth of the atoll, which China has at times attempted to block since it seized de facto control of the shoal in 2012.
Last month, the Philippines’ coast guard accused the Chinese navy of performing dangerous flight maneuvers nearby.
In an email to Reuters, Maxar said the aircraft in the images were H-6 bombers, adding that “rainbow colors” close to them resulted when satellite images of fast-moving objects were processed.
The timing of the flights was unlikely to be accidental, however, regional security analysts said.
Beijing was sending “a signal that China has a sophisticated military,” said Peter Layton of Australia’s Griffith Asia Institute.
“The bombers’ second message could be you (the United States) have the potential for long-range strike; so do we, and in larger numbers. Clearly not serendipity,” he added.
December drills
Regional military attaches say China has gradually stepped up deployments of H-6 bombers into the South China Sea as its military presence has grown, starting with landings on improved runways in the disputed Paracel Islands in 2018.
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The jet-powered H-6 is based on a Soviet-era design but has been modernized to carry an array of antiship and land attack missiles, and some are capable of launching nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles.
The bombers were deployed in war games in October around Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory, and in late December at Panatag, as part of broader air and sea operations by the Chinese military’s Southern Theatre Command which covers the South China Sea.
The command operates two regiments of the bombers, according to the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies.
The December drills were publicized, with the defense ministry saying at the time they were meant to “resolutely safeguard China’s national sovereignty and security and maintain peace in the South China Sea.”
The ministry posted images of aircraft above the shoal, but satellite images capturing patrols in operation are rare.
The altitude at which the H-6s were flying near the shoal is not known.
