Latest military exercise was part of the US Pacific Command’s ‘continuous bomber presence’ programme.
China said on Friday it was monitoring US military activities in the South China Sea after two US bombers conducted training flights over the disputed waters.
The US Pacific Command said on its website two American Air Force B-1B Lancer bombers flew a 10-hour training mission from Guam over the South China Sea on Thursday, in conjunction with the Navy’s USS Sterett guided-missile destroyer.
The exercise comes after a US warship in late May carried out a “maneuvering drill” within 12 nautical miles of an artificial island built up by China in the South China Sea.
The US military conducts such “freedom of navigation” patrols to show China it is not entitled to territorial waters there, US officials said at the time.
The latest exercise was part of Pacific Command’s “continuous bomber presence” programme, but it did not give details on where it was conducted, and did not refer to it as a freedom-of-navigation operation.
