Beijing sends heavy bombers to disputed islands in South China Sea
China has sent two of its recently upgraded H-6 bombers to a disputed island in the South China Sea, satellite images have revealed.
The photographs, taken by Maxar Technologies, show the two aircraft on an airstrip on Woody Island in the Paracel archipelago on May 19.
The long-range bombers date back to the 1950s and were modelled on Soviet-era planes, but have been modernised and can now carry weapons including hypersonic and nuclear missiles.
They are considered China's most advanced bombers, and it is the first time they have been on the island in five years.
The photographs also show two Y-20 transport aircraft and a KJ-500 early warning plane around Woody Island on the same day.
The KJ-500 is believed to be vital to China's ability to carry out increasingly complex air and sea operations.
Located almost equidistant from China and Vietnam – about 220 miles from China and 250 miles from Vietnam – the Paracel Islands have long been at the centre of disputes between the two countries, which both claim sovereignty over the archipelago.
The islands are believed to sit on top of large natural gas and oil reserves, though there has been limited exploration of the area.
In 2012, China built a city called Sansha on Woody Island, which Beijing uses to administer control over the rest of the Paracels as well as the Spratly Islands further south.
In the years since, Woody Island has grown into an urban hub, with a population of about 2,300 as well as an airport, schools, a courthouse, a cinema and hospitals.
The Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative in the US estimates that China has at least 20 outposts across the Paracels, three of which have harbours that can dock large numbers of vessels and five of which have helipads.
The Paracel Islands also form a strategic triangle with the Spratly Islands and the Scarborough Shoal, which Beijing seized from the Philippines in a tense standoff in 2012.
In April, during the Philippines' annual exercises with the US called Balikatan, four men planted a Chinese flag on Sandy Cay, a sandbank in the Spratly Islands, leading to a heated exchange with Manila.
A month earlier, two H-6 aircraft were seen flying over the Scarborough Shoal shortly before Pete Hegseth, the US defence secretary, visited the Philippines.
Vincent Kyle Parada, a former defence analyst at the Philippines navy, previously told The Telegraph that it would make sense for Beijing to assert its sovereignty over these territories.
'Having a Chinese presence in each of those features will allow [Beijing] a disproportionate amount of control when it comes to asserting its influence over South China Sea, whether it's through economic disruption, freedom of navigation or safety at sea,' explained Mr Parada.
The timing of the latest H-6 deployment to the Paracels is unlikely to be a coincidence.
A British aircraft carrier is also expected to deploy to the South China Sea next month.
The Shangri-la Dialogue, considered Asia's largest defence summit, begins on Friday, though China's defence minister is reportedly not attending.
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