Fighter jets attached to a brigade under the PLA Air Force Xi'an Flying College taxi on the runway during a round-the-clock training mission in early June, 2023. (eng.chinamil.com.cn/Photo by Cui Baoliang)

The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) has deployed a new-type reconnaissance aircraft to monitor and gather intelligence on an ongoing naval exercise jointly conducted by the US, Japan, France and Canada in Pacific waters to the east of the island of Taiwan, experts said on Sunday.

Two US Navy carrier strike groups featuring the aircraft carriers USS Nimitz and USS Ronald Reagan operated with Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force helicopter carrier JS Izumo and surface units from Canada and France in the Philippine Sea on Friday in an integrated at-sea exercise involving more than 12,000 sailors from the four countries, the US 7th Fleet said in a press release on Saturday.

The joint drill was monitored by the South China Sea Strategic Situation Probing Initiative, a Beijing-based think tank, which said on Friday that the two US carriers had been operating in waters around the Ryukyu Islands in the Philippine Sea since Thursday.

This sea region, located to the east of the island of Taiwan, is of key strategic value in the Taiwan question, because from there, the PLA could surround the island and deny foreign military interference attempts, a Chinese military expert who requested anonymity told the Global Times on Sunday.

Also, if foreign interference forces manage to control this region, they can provide support to the "Taiwan independence" secessionist forces, the expert said.

Coinciding with the quadrilateral joint exercise, Japan's Ministry of Defense Joint Staff confirmed that it spotted a PLA Y-9 reconnaissance plane operating over the West Pacific on Thursday, saying in a press release that this Y-9 reconnaissance plane was different from previously spotted models, making it the first time this type of aircraft had been confirmed.

The defense authority on the island of Taiwan said on Friday in a press release that it spotted 37 PLA aircraft and five PLA vessels around the island of Taiwan over the previous day. Among them, 26 J-11 and J-16 fighter jets, four H-6 bombers, two YU-20 aerial tankers, two Y-9 communications countermeasures aircraft and a WZ-7 reconnaissance drone flew to the southeastern side of the island, supported by two KJ-500 early warning aircraft. 

Based on the overlapping flight paths and locations, the PLA reconnaissance aircraft had likely tracked, monitored and gathered intelligence on the quadrilateral joint exercise, and the PLA bombers might carry out mock target training, analysts said.

In addition to aviation forces, the PLA previously sent aircraft carrier groups to this region for far-sea exercises several times, while its Rocket Force can also target hostile vessels with anti-ship ballistic missiles, observers said.

External forces should stop provoking China by using the Taiwan question and stirring up tensions in the region, experts said.