Flying your warplanes where you shouldn’t fly your warplanes – it’s the thing to do for slightly pissed-off world superpowers these days.
And judging by the latest news, China have been quick to follow the trend following US President-elect Donald Trump’s chinwag with the President of Taiwan the other week.
Trump’s 10-minute phone call with President Tsai Ing-wen was the first between a US President-elect or President since Jimmy Carter switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China back in 1979, where he acknowledged Taiwan as part of ‘One China’.
It’s safe to say that this has ruffled a few feathers in Beijing, with China opting to fly a nuclear bomber along the disputed ‘nine-dash line’ around the South China Sea.
Speaking to Fox News, US officials said that the decision to fly the Xian H-6 bomber over the area was made to send a message to the incoming administration in Washington. The Pentagon was made aware of the flight – the first long-range flight of a Chinese bomber along the line of demarcation since March of 2015 – on Friday. Unlike previous Chinese flights over the line, this one is said to have ventured much further.
As Fox point out, this isn’t the only China-related cloud on Trump’s horizon. American intelligence satellites have also spied China preparing to ship more advanced surface-to-air missiles to its contested islands in the South China Sea.
Perhaps this is what he and Kanye were talking about the other day?
