China began a five-day live-fire air defence exercise on Tuesday with fighter jets and thousands of servicemen against a backdrop of increased military and diplomatic tension with the United States. The drills are taking place across the central province of Henan and eastern coastal province of Shandong, which backs on to the Yellow Sea, the official Xinhua news agency said. Both provinces are close to the capital, Beijing.
The "Vanguard 2010" exercises would involve co-ordinating more than 100 aircraft from the army, air force and navy, with live firing of missiles, to simulate defending Beijing from air attack, the China News Service added. The increased activity comes as China and the United States have argued over joint US-South Korean drills in the seas off South Korea, and coincides with Beijing's anger at US comments about a sensitive territorial dispute in the South China Sea.
But the military has said it is simply trying to be more open, denying any connections to regional tensions. "The aim is to raise fighting capabilities in this military region and make effective preparations for military combat," the China News Service quoted Zhao Zongqi, one of the generals overseeing the drills, as saying.
The drills would be as realistic as possible, with no rehearsals beforehand, and there would be seven aircraft types involved, including spy planes and helicopters, the report added without elaborating. China has ramped up investment in its air force which is now equipped with Russian-designed Su-30 and Su-27 fighters, more than a match for the F-16s flown by Taiwan, the self-ruled island Beijing claims as its own and which it insists must unify with the mainland eventually, by force if necessary. Chinese media has announced several military drills over the past few weeks, including of naval forces - events normally shrouded in secrecy and little reported on.
The Chinese army-run Military Weekly newspaper said in a commentary that while the exercises were normal and that China had no intention of "seeking hegemony", it would strike back at any threats to its interests. "Though China's drills are low-key, they send a message," it said. "If other people threaten our interests, we have enough military means and technological methods to keep them in check." China reacted with fury to joint US and South Korean drills in the Yellow Sea last month, which ended up being largely shifted to the Sea of Japan.
Beijing said the manoeuvres threatened its security and regional stability. The United States and South Korea said they were aimed at deterring North Korea. That spat was followed by another, this time involving the strategically located South China Sea, an area with competing territorial claims by China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines. Southeast Asian nations have become worried by China's increasingly aggressive stance on the complex set of disputes.
China, which has repeatedly said its claims on the waters and islands of the sea are indisputable, denounced US comments on the issue at a security forum in Vietnam last month. China's growing military might and rising defence spending have set alarm bells ringing around the region, especially in Japan and Taiwan.