The commander of Andersen Air Force Base on Guam yesterday said that a Chinese air force video that seemed to show a simulated attack on his facility was “propaganda” designed to coerce and antagonize.
The video showed H-6 bombers striking what appears to be Anderson, though it did not directly mention the base, as regional tensions rise and the US carries out a major biennial drill near Guam.
“I’m always concerned about our ability to protect our service members and their families,” US Brigadier General Jeremy Sloane, Andersen’s commander, told reporters on a conference call about the ongoing Valiant Shield exercises.
Photo: Reuters
“The video itself — they know the timing of the exercise,” he said. “It’s a propaganda video ... although we’re always concerned about the protection of the island and the protection of our people, the video itself is just purely propaganda designed to coerce and antagonize us.”
The Chinese government has not commented on the video, which lifted scenes from Hollywood movies such as Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, to the amusement of posters on Chinese social media.
It was released on Saturday last week on the People’s Liberation Army Air Force’s (PLAAF) Sina Weibo account, in the midst of the Valiant Shield drill, lasting from Monday last week to yesterday.
Sloane said that Valiant Shield continued as scheduled.
“The exercise itself is going to go on as planned, because it’s designed to make sure that we’re trained and ready to conduct ourselves across a variety of operations in the Indo-Pacific and to support our allies and partners,” he said.
Guam is home to major US military facilities, including the air base, which would be key to responding to any conflict in the Asia-Pacific region.
The video also came as China carried out a second day of drills near Taiwan, to express anger at the visit of a senior US Department of State official — US Undersecretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy and the Environment Keith Krach — to Taipei.
The H-6 has been involved in multiple Chinese flights around and near Taiwan, the Ministry of National Defense said.
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