China continues to conduct training exercises near the Korean Peninsula, according to state media.
Chinese state news service People's Daily Online reported on Thursday the Nanchang Q-5, a Chinese-built ground-attack aircraft, practiced hitting simulated targets in Bohai Bay, UPI reported.
Two Q-5 jets took part in the drills, following the deployment of Beijing's Aegis-class destroyer Xining to the Yellow Sea, the state news network CCTV.
The Xining was commissioned in January and according to China's Defense Ministry, it is a "homegrown guided-missile destroyer integrated with many new types of weaponry".
The exercises follow a naval training drill in the Yellow Sea, when China deployed the Liaoning, China's only known aircraft carrier.
The Liaoning and its accompanying fleet had completed training exercises in the South China Sea in January.
A source in Beijing, who spoke anonymously to Yonhap, said the drill may have been publicized as a warning to North Korea and to the United States and South Korea, as tensions mount on the peninsula and the USS Carl Vinson strike carrier group plans to arrive in the region next week.
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