US' blame game part of its containment strategy

Bombers of the People's Liberation Army Air Force conducted takeoff and landing training from an islet in the South China Sea in order to improve the ability to "reach all territory, conduct strikes at any time and strike in all directions", as the air force said in a statement.

The exercise involved several H-6K bombers taking off from an air base on Yongxing, the largest of the Xisha Islands, and simulating strikes against sea targets, the Pentagon claimed.

The United States, of course, wasted no time in expressing how concerned it was by this. The Pentagon called it a continuation of China's militarization of the waters, which it claimed was raising tensions and destabilizing the region.