China’s Air Force sent bombers and fighter jets on “combat patrols” near contested islands in the South China Sea, in a move a senior colonel said was part of an effort to normalize such drills and respond to security threats. The exercises come at a time of heightened tension in the disputed waters after an arbitration court in The Hague ruled last month that China did not have historic rights to the South China Sea. The air force sent several H-6 bombers and Su-30 fighter jets to inspect the airspace around the Spratly Islands and Scarborough Shoal, Senior Colonel Shen Jinke of the People’s Liberation Army Air Force said, according to state news agency Xinhua.

China on 'combat patrols' over disputed islands. (2016, August 7). Philippine Daily Inquirer, p. A17.