In a series aired on Sunday, state broadcaster CCTV reported that the elite air force unit, the First Fighter Brigade, now “flies missions over the Bashi Channel and Tsushima Strait, and conducts patrols around Taiwan”.
The unit was among the first to receive the new-generation aircraft and while the report did not refer to the J-20 directly, footage of the stealth fighter was shown throughout the segment, leaving little doubt about the aircraft involved.
The Tsushima Strait is a narrow and heavily monitored waterway. It separates South Korea from Japan and is a chokepoint connecting the Sea of Japan – or East Sea – with the East China Sea.
The area is within the range of a dense network of US, Japanese, and South Korean radar systems, including the US THAAD anti-missile system.
But the transit of the J-20, China’s most advanced stealth fighter, has not been reported by either Seoul or Tokyo.
