The Chinese Air Force is sending fighter jets and bombers to Thailand for a joint exercise with the Thai military.
The training will include air support, attacks on ground targets and small- and large-scale troop deployment, the Chinese Ministry of Defense said in a statement posted on its website.
China’s expanding military activities in the Asia-Pacific region have alarmed the United States and its allies and are part of a growing strategic and economic competition that has inflamed tensions between the world’s two largest economies.
The Chinese Air Force is sending fighter jets and bombers to Thailand for a joint exercise with the Thai military. (Fu Gan/Xinhua via AP) (AP)
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin visited Thailand in June as part of an effort to strengthen what he called America’s “unmatched network of alliances and partnerships” in the region.
The Falcon Strike exercise will be held at the Royal Thai Air Force Base in Udorn in northern Thailand near the border with Laos. Thai fighter jets and airborne early warning aircraft from both countries will also participate.
The training comes as the United States conducts combat exercises in Indonesia with Indonesia, Australia, Japan and Singapore in the largest iteration of the Super Garuda Shield exercises since they began in 2009.
It also follows China sending warships, missiles and aircraft into the waters and air around Taiwan in a threatening response to a visit by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to the self-governing island, which China claims as its territory.
US Indo-Pacific Coordinator Kurt Campbell said the US military is taking steps to strengthen Taiwan. (Andrew Taylor) (New)
Kurt Campbell, one of US President Joe Biden’s top advisers on the Indo-Pacific, said on Friday that the US would take decisive action to support Taiwan, including sending warships and warplanes over the route river 160 km wide that separates Taiwan and China.
“We will continue to fly, navigate and operate wherever international law allows, consistent with our longstanding commitment to freedom of navigation,” he said.
“And that includes conducting standard air and sea traffic across the Taiwan Strait in the coming weeks.”
China accuses US of ‘navigation harassment’