China sends aircraft to monitor US-Japan-France-Canada military exercise?

That was the assessment made by some Chinese experts on June 11, a day after the US Seventh Fleet announced a four-country exercise, according to the Global Times .

According to a statement from the 7th Fleet, two US carrier strike groups, including the aircraft carriers USS Nimitz and USS Ronald Reagan, operated alongside the Japanese helicopter destroyer JS Izumo, the French frigate FS Lorraine, and the Canadian frigate HMCS Montreal in the Philippine Sea on June 9th, in a coordinated exercise involving more than 12,000 personnel from four nations.

Ships from two US carrier strike groups, the Japan Self-Defense Forces, and the French Navy formed a formation in the Philippine Sea on June 9.

According to the Global Times , the South China Sea Strategic Situation Probing Initiative (SCSPI), a Beijing-based organization, monitored the aforementioned joint exercise. SCSPI stated on June 9th that two US aircraft carriers had been operating in the waters surrounding the Ryukyu Islands (Japan) in the Philippine Sea since June 8th.

This sea area, located east of Taiwan, is of crucial strategic value in the Taiwan issue, as it allows the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) to encircle the island and prevent any attempts at foreign military intervention, according to the Global Times, citing an unnamed Chinese military expert.

Alongside the four-way joint exercise, Japan's Ministry of Defense confirmed that it detected a PLA Y-9 reconnaissance aircraft operating over the Western Pacific on June 8. Japan stated in a press release that this Y-9 reconnaissance aircraft differed from previously detected models, according to the Global Times .

By June 10th, Taiwan's Defense Ministry reported that it had detected 37 military aircraft and 5 PLA vessels around Taiwan the previous day, including 26 J-11 and J-16 fighter jets, 4 H-6 bombers, 2 YU-20 refueling aircraft, 2 Y-9s, and a WZ-7 unmanned reconnaissance aircraft that flew toward southeastern Taiwan, supported by two KJ-500 early warning aircraft, according to the Global Times .

Based on overlapping flight paths and positions, PLA reconnaissance aircraft likely tracked, monitored, and gathered intelligence on the aforementioned four-party joint exercise, and PLA bombers may have practiced targeting simulated targets, according to the Global Times on June 11, citing several Chinese experts.

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