The US is walking all over Beijing with regular B-52 bomber flights in the South China Sea

pulse

September 25, 2018 6:53 PM

The US military again flew B-52 nuclear capable bombers through the South China Sea, and completely refuses to back down to China's claims over the waterway.

A U.S. Air Force B-52 Stratofortress takes off from Andersen Air Force Base (AFB), Guam, August 24, 2016.

The US military has stepped up to regularly challenge Beijing's dominance in the South China Sea and has achieved one of its main missions — controlling the narrative — with the help of B-52 nuclear-capable bombers.

For years, Beijing has laid unilateral and illegal claims to about 90% of the South China Sea, a rich shipping lane where trillions of dollars in annual trade pass and untold billions in oil resources lie.

Through environmentally damaging dredging, China built up island fortresses around the waterway.

Chinese President Xi Jinping stood next to former President Barack Obama in the White House's Rose Garden and promised not to militarize the islands. But China has flown its own nuclear bombers, fighter jets, and other military aviation to the artificial land features that now hold radar and missile sites.

The US's main way of challenging China's claims to these waters have been freedom of navigation operations, or sailing a US Navy destroyer close to the islands to show that its military doesn't respect Beijing's claims, as they violate international law.

"US military aircraft, you have violated our China sovereignty and infringed on our security and our rights. You need to leave immediately and keep far out," a recent Chinese warning blared to the US, according to The New York Times.

China built not only islands, but its own narrative insisting on its ownership of the South China Sea. Any US military flights in the South China Sea used to make prominent news because Beijing would heavily object using its substantial media clout.

In August, the US flew B-52s over the South China Sea four times.

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