| Undated handout photo of a B-1B Lancer soaring over the Pacific Ocean after air refuelling training at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam |
Two US bombers have flown over the disputed South China Sea, the US Air Force said on Friday, asserting the right to treat the region as international territory despite China’s claim to virtually all of the waterway.
The flight by the B-1B Lancer bombers from Guam on Thursday came as US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping prepare for a meeting on the sidelines of a G20 summit in Germany.
The two leaders were expected to discuss what China can do to rein in North Korea’s missile and nuclear weapon programmes.
North Korea fired an intercontinental ballistic missile on Tuesday that some experts believe has the range to reach Alaska and Hawaii and perhaps the US Pacific Northwest.
While Trump has been seeking China’s help to press North Korea, the US military has, nevertheless, been asserting its “freedom of navigation” rights in the South China Sea, at the risk of angering China.
Asked about the flight by the two US bombers, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said there was no problem with freedom of navigation or overflight for the East and South China Seas.
“But China resolutely opposes individual countries using the banner of freedom of navigation and overflight to flaunt military force and harm China’s sovereignty and security,” he said.
The United States has criticised China’s build-up of military facilities on South China Sea reefs and tiny islands it has constructed, concerned that they could be used to extend its strategic reach.
Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan also have claims in the sea, through which about $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes each year.
The two Lancers that made the flight had earlier trained with Japanese jet fighters in the neighbouring East China Sea, the first time the two forces had conducted joint night-time drills.
Two US Lancers flew from Guam over the South China Sea last month, while a US warship carried out a manoeuvring drill within 12 nautical miles of one of China’s artificial islands in the waterway in late May.