The People's Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force opened official Sina Weibo and WeChat accounts on Tuesday in the Chinese military's latest foray into social media, according to an air force official. 

The PLA Air Force created the new social media accounts to mark the 66th anniversary of the founding of the air force, Shen Jinke, a spokesperson for the PLA Air Force, said on Tuesday.

The air force's official Sina Weibo account had attracted nearly 6,900 followers as of press time.

The PLA Navy first opened its official microblogging account on people.com.cn in April, which the Ministry of National Defense followed with the opening of its own Sina Weibo account in May.

Analysts said that the military's use of social media accounts can help increase the transparency of the military, which has been the target of criticism.

Meanwhile, Shen said that barracks and other areas of 18 air force bases in 14 cities were opened to the public on Wednesday.

Military equipment and weapons were on display while demonstrations of military training and military history education programs were held on the opened bases.

Media reports revealed that J-10 jet fighters and JH-7 bombers were among the aircraft on display.

The activities that took place Tuesday and Wednesday mark the largest-scale base opening in PLA Air Force history, the PLA Daily said. The 18 opened bases host combat troops, academies and training institutions at the army, division, brigade and regiment levels.