China puts bombers to long-range test via Miyako Strait

Drill comes after PLA tells US aircraft to leave Fiery Cross Reef airspace

China’s air force sent a group of strategic bombers through the Miyako Strait south of Okinawa in a long-range drill for the first time yesterday as part of military exercises in the western Pacific.

The manoeuvre came as US-based CNN reported that the Chinese navy repeatedly warned a US surveillance plane to leave airspace over artificial islands that Beijing is building in the disputed South China Sea.