--- title: Chinese Navy Holds Drills Over Disputed South China Sea Area description: Chinese naval jets armed with missiles have executed conflict training drills over disputed waters near Vietnam in the South China Sea. canonical: https://time.com/4096086/south-china-sea-jets-paracel/ author: Nash Jenkins article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-11-02T04:27:12.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T12:15:31.622Z article:section: World og:title: Chinese Navy Conducts Drills In Disputed South China Sea og:description: The presence of a U.S. destroyer in the area last week infuriated Beijing og:url: https://time.com/4096086/south-china-sea-jets-paracel/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2a369fc36338d82b/69886f21a988ca12bc6b516a/gettyimages-149332346.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: This aerial view of the city of Sansha o og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Chinese Navy Conducts Drills In Disputed South China Sea twitter:description: The presence of a U.S. destroyer in the area last week infuriated Beijing twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2a369fc36338d82b/69886f21a988ca12bc6b516a/gettyimages-149332346.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # China Sends Armed Jets Over Disputed Waters In Response to U.S. Naval Presence ## Video: China's Military Parade By the Numbers [Watch (HLS stream): China's Military Parade By the Numbers](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/EdAh6ne8.m3u8) (1:02)  _Published 2015-09-03. China's Military Parade By the Numbers_ by [Nash Jenkins](/author/p-nash-jenkins/) ## Nash Jenkins Nov 2, 2015 4:27 AM CUT  An aerial view of the city of Sansha on an island in the disputed Paracel chain, which China now considers part of Hainan province on July 27, 2012. An aerial view of the city of Sansha on an island in the disputed Paracel chain, which China now considers part of Hainan province on July 27, 2012.STR—AFP/Getty Images by [Nash Jenkins](/author/p-nash-jenkins/) ## Nash Jenkins Nov 2, 2015 4:27 AM CUT Chinese naval jets armed with missiles have executed training drills over disputed waters near Vietnam in the South China Sea in an apparent response to what Beijing sees as provocation by the U.S. in the region. Photos released by the Chinese navy on Saturday show armed fighter jets that military experts say operated out of an airstrip on Woody Island in the Paracel archipelago, the _South China Morning Post_ [reports](http://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/1874799/armed-chinese-fighter-jets-train-over-disputed-waters "undefined"). The Paracels, along with the larger Spratly Islands to the southeast, are the subject of an increasingly tense territorial dispute between China and several of its smaller regional neighbors, notably Vietnam and the Philippines. Ignoring the maritime boundaries of nearby states, China has occupied and artificially expanded some islets, putatively for military purposes. Last week, the U.S. Navy [sent](http://time.com/4088224/south-china-sea-spratly-us/ "undefined") a guided-missile destroyer within the 12-nautical-mile radius zone surrounding reefs in the Spratly archipelago, saying the ship was merely “exercising the right of freedom of navigation in international waters” — a tacit rejection of Beijing’s territorial claims. The gesture infuriated Chinese officials, including Chinese Navy chief Admiral Wu Shengli, [who told Admiral John Richardson](http://time.com/4093997/wu-shengli-china-navy-us/ "undefined"), his American counterpart, that a similar “dangerous \[and\] provocative act” could in the future lead to war between the two superpowers. The U.S. has not yet publicly responded to the Chinese naval exercises. “It’s a signal China sent to the US that it is serious about its claims,” Xu Guangyu, a retired Chinese general, told the _Post_. “This is the minimum level of response China should have, or it will fail the expectation of its people.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4096086/south-china-sea-jets-paracel/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4096086/south-china-sea-jets-paracel/"},"headline":"China Sends Armed Jets Over Disputed Waters In Response to U.S. Naval Presence","datePublished":"2015-11-02T04:27:12.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T12:15:31.622Z","description":"The presence of a U.S. destroyer in the area last week infuriated Beijing","url":"https://time.com/4096086/south-china-sea-jets-paracel/","keywords":["Military","Vietnam","Navy","China","Philippines","South China Sea"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2a369fc36338d82b/69886f21a988ca12bc6b516a/gettyimages-149332346.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nash Jenkins","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/p-nash-jenkins/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2a369fc36338d82b/69886f21a988ca12bc6b516a/gettyimages-149332346.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"This aerial view of the city of Sansha o","caption":"This aerial view of the city of Sansha o","creditText":"STR—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4096086/south-china-sea-jets-paracel/","name":"China Sends Armed Jets Over Disputed Waters In Response to U.S. Naval Presence"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"China's Military Parade By the Numbers","description":"China's Military Parade By the Numbers","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/EdAh6ne8/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-09-03T17:53:28.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/EdAh6ne8.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4096086/south-china-sea-jets-paracel/","duration":"PT1M2S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4096086/south-china-sea-jets-paracel/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```