Last week, US Indo-Pacific Command announced that a Navy carrier strike group led by the USS Theodore Roosevelt had entered the South China Sea for \u201croutine operations\u201d. The move was followed immediately thereafter by China deploying bombers, fighters, and an anti-submarine warfare turboprop for drills off Taiwan.<\/p>\n
Last weekend\u2019s Chinese air drills southwest of Taiwan appear to have been a direct response to the arrival of the US carrier group in the region, with radio chatter collected by the US and its allies indicating that Chinese bomber pilots had been given orders to simulate an attack run on the 88,000 tonne carrier using anti-ship missiles, FT reports<\/a>, citing sources said to be \u2018familiar with intelligence\u2019.<\/p>\n Some 28 People\u2019s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) aircraft, including at least<\/a> eight H-6 bombers, four J-16 fighters, and a Y-8 anti-submarine warfare plane, entered Taiwan\u2019s so-called \u2018Air Defence Identification Zone\u2019 (ADIZ) between 23 and 24 January. The deployment came in the immediate aftermath of the arrival of a US carrier strike group in the South China Sea on 23 January<\/a>.<\/p>\n China’s DF-21 missile, reportedly capable of sinking US aircraft carriers. Click to enlarge<\/p><\/div>\n PLAAF\u2019s maritime strike H-6 bombers can be armed with up to six YJ-12 anti-ship cruise missiles, and\/or 6-7 KD-20 air-launched cruise missiles. The former can accelerate to Mach 3 in flight, making them difficult to defend against by carrier groups\u2019 elaborate air and missile defence systems, such as the Aegis or SM-2 fleet area defence missiles.<\/p>\n The Aviationist contributor David Cenciotti points out<\/a> that while not confirmed to have been involved in last week\u2019s missions, modified H-6s can carry the DF-21D, an air-launched version of the DF-21 \u2018Carrier Killer\u2019<\/a> anti-ship ballistic missile, which has a range of up to 1,450 km, a speed of up to Mach 6, and a conventional or nuclear payload.<\/p>\n The Pentagon appeared to confirm that the Chinese drills off Taiwan were directed against US forces late Friday, with Indo-Pacific Command spokesman Mike Kafka blasting<\/a> China\u2019s \u201cattempt to use its military as a tool to intimidate or coerce\u201d others while stressing that the USS Theodore Roosevelt-led carrier strike group had \u201cclosely monitored\u201d all Chinese navy and air force activity. \u201cAt no time did they pose a threat to US Navy ships, aircraft, or sailors,\u201d Kafka stressed.<\/p>\n Despite campaigning on trying to fix the ‘toxic’ China-US relationship<\/a> that came about under Donald Trump, the Biden administration began ramping up tensions with China<\/a>\u00a0almost immediately after coming into office last week. Along with the deployment of the strike group to the South China Sea, Washington publicly promised to help Japan defend the Senkaku Islands, the strategic archipelago of uninhabited rocks contested by Tokyo and Beijing that\u2019s situated in the East China Sea between the Chinese mainland and Japan\u2019s Ryukyu Islands.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/CHINESE-DF-21-MISSILES-660x475.jpg\")
<\/a>Biden vs. Beijing<\/h2>\n