BEIJING – China’s Air Force held another round of drills in the disputedSouth China Sea and the Western Pacific after passing though Japan’ssouthern islands, the air force said on Sunday, calling such exercises thebest preparation for war.

China is in the midst of an ambitious military modernisation programmeoverseen by President Xi Jinping with a heavy focus on its air force andnavy, from building stealth fighters to adding aircraft carriers.

China insists it has no hostile intent, but its sabre-rattling in the busySouth China Sea waterway, and around Taiwan, has touched a nerve in theregion and in Washington.

In a statement, the air force said H-6K bombers and Su-30 and Su-35fighters, among other aircraft, carried out combat patrols over the SouthChina Sea and exercises in the Western Pacific after passing over theMiyako Strait, which lies between two southern Japanese islands.

It did not say when the exercises took place nor specify the parts of theSouth China Sea or the Western Pacific.

In a “freedom of navigation” operation on Friday, a U.S. Navy destroyercame within 12 nautical miles of an artificial island China has built inthe South China Sea, provoking condemnation from China, which claims mostof the strategic waterway.

Sending Su-35 fighters over the South China Sea aims to help increase theair force’s ability to fight far out at sea, the air force said in thestatement on its microblog.

Flying across the Miyako Strait, which also sits to the northeast of theself-ruled island of Taiwan that China claims as its own, accorded withinternational law and practice, it added.

“Air Force exercises are rehearsals for future wars and are the most directpreparation for combat,” it said. Agencies