According to report from ifeng, a Chinese military media recently reported that JH-7 fighter bombers took off from an island airport and attended a military exercise.
An insider unveiled that this island airport is the airport on Yongxing Island, the largest one among Xisha Islands and all the islands in South China Sea. And this should be the first time for JH-7 fighter to be deployed on the island.
It is analyzed that due to JH-7 fighter bomber’s precise strike capability towards land and sea, it will play an important role in disputes of South China Sea.
Airport runway on Yongxing Island reached 3,000 meters after an expansion in 2014, therefore can be used for various aircrafts including large transport airplanes.
China has been preparing for potential conflicts in South China Sea in recent years, and the latest U.S. warships’ invasions of its territorial waters in South China Sea have obviously become a driving factor.
Apart from JH-7 fighter bomber, HQ-9 air defense missile has also been deployed on Yongxing Island, according to a recent report from VOA, quoting an American official’s words. HQ-9 missile was firstly a copy cat of Russia’s S-300, but it was reported to get the best result among all the bidders in Turkey’s bidding tests.
Chinese government only sent warships to monitor U.S. destroy on January 30th, when it invaded Chinese territorial water beside its Xisha Islands, but many Chinese people were irritated and dissatisfied with the government’s mild reactions, they appealed for Chinese warships to hit America’s destroyers just like what Soviet Union did when its waters were offended.
But Chinese military has chosen to comply with President Xi’s instructions about adopting a featured diplomatic style as a unique big nation, and make more preparations for potential military conflicts by deploying weapons like HQ-9 missiles and JH-7 fighter bombers.
This action reminds people of what China did after its embassy in Yugoslavia was bombed by U.S. missiles in 1999. China apparently didn’t make any strong reactions, but it began to invest much more money into R&D of advanced weapons.