Beijing played up its H-6K bombers in a drill near Taiwan. Who was it for?
Taipei declares CCTV report ‘clearly a public opinion operation aimed at intimidation’, although expert says real target may be elsewhere
The training was conducted by the PLA’s Eastern Theatre Command, which oversees operations around Taiwan and the East China Sea, and aimed to test abilities in reconnaissance and early warning operations, air blockades and precision strikes, the report said.
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“From above the clouds, Taiwan’s coastline is clearly visible,” Yao Miling of the mainland command’s air force was quoted as saying in the report while pledging to “defend the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity through our actions”.
The footage then showed the bombers dropping missiles on ground targets.
While the H-6K bombers had previously been deployed around the island, a public display of several H-6s conducting drills near the island is rare and has drawn attention from Taipei.
On Friday, Taiwan’s defence ministry reported detecting eight sorties by PLA bombers operating to the island’s southwest on Thursday – the highest number the island has detected from a single direction in the past three months. It is not clear whether the “recent” bomber drills aired by CCTV are related to those sorties.
Taiwan’s defence ministry said on Monday that the CCTV report was “clearly a public opinion operation aimed at intimidation”. It called on citizens to remain united in the face of such “cognitive operations”.