Their mission continued despite being warned by Chinese ground controllers.
The incident comes ahead of a visit by US President Barack Obama to a summit in Manila next week, which China's President Xi Jinping will also attend.
China is locked in maritime territorial disputes with several neighbours in the South China Sea.
It claims a large swathe of the resource-rich area and has been aggressively reclaiming land and building facilities on reefs, which the US and others oppose.
The US has said it plans to demonstrate its freedom of navigation principle in the sea, which challenges what it deems to be "excessive claims" to the world's oceans and airspace.
'Received warnings'
The US patrol, which took place overnight on Sunday near the Spratly Islands, was a "a routine mission in the SCS (South China Sea)", said Pentagon spokesman Bill Urban, taking off from Guam and returning there...
BBC
13/11/15
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U.S. defense officials say two B-52 bombers flew near contested islands in the South China Sea earlier this week, and received a verbal warning from Chinese ground controllers in the latest instance of Washington challenging Beijing's expansive territorial claims there...
ReplyDeleteThe bombers, which originated from and returned to a U.S. air base on Guam, conducted a "routine mission in international airspace in the vicinity of the Spratly Islands" on November 8 and 9, according to Commander Bill Urban, a Pentagon spokesman on Thursday.
The planes "received two verbal warnings from a Chinese ground controller despite never venturing within 15 nautical miles [28 kilometers] of any feature," Urban said. "Both aircraft continued their mission without incident, and at all times operated fully in accordance with international law."........http://www.voanews.com/content/us-sends-b-52s-near-islands-claimed-by-china/3056137.html
13/11/15