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Earlier this week, American B-52 bombers left Guam and crossed the South China Sea, an area where the Chinese government built islands and established military installations on disputed features.
"It continues, if it was 20 years ago and they had not militarized these elements, it would be just another bomber en route to Diego Garcia or elsewhere," said Wednesday. Defense Secretary James Mattis. on the bomber flight.
"There is nothing extraordinary about it," added Mattis.
On Tuesday, the US B-52s also "participated in a regular combined operation in the vicinity of the East China Sea," Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Dave Eastburn told CNN.
A US defense official told CNN that the bombers were escorted by Japanese fighter planes and were flying close to the Japanese-controlled Senkaku islands claimed by China.
The bombers also flew into the air defense identification zone declared unilaterally by the Chinese army and extending over the area.
Both missions come amidst increased tensions over a series of issues over the past week.
Last week, the Chinese government denied a US warship permission to go to Hong Kong, the United States sanctioned a Chinese defense entity for its purchase of Russian-made weapons. A Chinese naval officer canceled a meeting with his US counterpart.
"We are obviously dealing with a period of tension, of commercial tension and all that, so we will get to the bottom of things, but I do not think we are witnessing a fundamental change, we are just going to review one of those periodic points where we learned how to handle our differences, "Mattis said, questioned about tensions.
