BEIJING – In a major show of strength China’s People’s Liberation Army AirForce (PLAAF) sent its J-20 stealth fighter jets for their first-evercombat training over the sea. The J-20 fighters took to the skies over thesea sometime in early May 2018 as China demonstrated that its forces werecombat ready even as tensions with Taiwan and some other neighbours rose.

The J-20 stealth fighters “will help the air force better fulfill itssacred duty of safeguarding China’s sovereignty, security and territorialintegrity,” PLAAF spokesperson and Senior Colonel Shen Jinke was quoted assaying by Xinhua.

The officer posted on PLAAF’s official blog that J-20 jets took part in adrill in “actual war conditions” to “further upgrade the air force’s combatcapabilities”. According to Shen the J-20 had earlier taken part in wargames with other Chinese fighters like J-16 and J-10c.

In the recent months, the Chinses forces have been aggressive in the seas.The PLAAF has flown its strategic bombers close to Taiwan and the ChineseArmy also conducted a live-fire drill in the Taiwan Strait in April 2018.

Chinese military officials claim that even Taiwan’s most advanced fighterslike the F-16 and the Mirage 2000 will be no match for the J-20 as theformer are fourth generation aircraft without stealth capabilities, unlikethe latter which is invisible to radars.

The J-20 is China’s answer to the American fifth-generation stealthfighters like F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning II. However,western defence experts claim that J-20 is a fourth-generation medium andlong-range fighter with an inferior engine compared to the US stealthfighters.

However, China’s other rivals like Japan and South Korea have the US F-35ALighting II in their arsenal. Japan will in the next six years have 62 F-35A Lighting II jets. Japan is also in talks with Lockheed Martin to developan advanced jet which will combine the capabilities of both the F-22 Raptorand F-35A Lighting II. South Korea also plans to have 60 F-35A Lighting IIin its air force.