Why China Moved H-6 Bombers To Woody Island Earlier than The Shangri-La Dialogue? Know The Strategic Sign

China has despatched H-6 long-range bombers to Woody Island, its strategic navy base within the disputed Paracel Islands, in what has been extensively interpreted as a present of power forward of the Shangri-La Dialogue, an influential regional safety convention in Singapore.

Satellite tv for pc photographs taken between Might 17 and Might 23 by the US firm Maxar Applied sciences verified at the least two H-6 bombers current on the island, joined by a KJ-500 airborne early warning airplane and Y-20 cargo planes. The deployment mirrored Beijing’s try to say management over the disputed South China Sea and represented strategic intent directed at regional rivals and the USA.

The timing of the deployment, mere days forward of protection leaders equivalent to US Protection Secretary Lloyd Austin and French President Emmanuel Macron, who’re set to ship speeches on the Shangri-La Dialogue, has brought about suspicion of Beijing’s intentional messaging. The motion is supposed to strengthen China’s navy presence and deterrence energy in mild of heightened tensions inside the area.

Strategic Stronghold In Dispute

Woody Island, or Yongxing Island in Chinese language, is the most important island among the many Paracel Islands and has been a key fulcrum in Beijing’s territorial disputes for a very long time. The island is house to a 3,000-meter runway, fortified hangars, and radar amenities, which make up the middle of China’s South China Sea militarisation. The world is partly claimed by Taiwan and Vietnam, and Beijing has exercised de facto management for the reason that Nineteen Seventies.

China claimed sovereignty over all however a number of miles of the South China Sea, a declare denied by a 2016 worldwide tribunal determination underneath the United Nations Conference on the Legislation of the Sea (UNCLOS). In defiance of worldwide criticism, Beijing has pressed on increasing its navy presence by means of island-building and ahead deployment.

Tensions rise within the South China Sea

Chinese language H-6 bombers noticed on Woody Island, escalation in China’s militarisation of the South China Sea@susanmtehrani studies pic.twitter.com/pkfegLY6Ij
— WION (@WIONews) Might 28, 2025

H-6: Chilly Battle Relic Turned Fashionable Strike Platform

The H-6 bomber, developed by Xi’an Plane Industrial Company, is a modernised model of the Soviet-era Tupolev Tu-16. First launched into China’s arsenal in 1958, the plane has undergone in depth upgrades, remodeling it from a Chilly Battle relic into a classy platform for long-range precision strikes, maritime interdiction, and nuclear deterrence.

Fashionable fashions such because the H-6K and H-6N are fitted with enhanced D-30KP-2 turbofans, trendy avionics, and in-flight refuelling. The H-6K could be outfitted to hold seven CJ-10A cruise missiles or YJ-12 supersonic sea-attack missiles, whereas the H-6N mannequin is able to carrying air-launched ballistic missiles or unmanned aerial automobiles, offering elevated operational flexibility.

Army analysts put the vary of the H-6K at greater than 2,200 miles, which implies it may well attain strategic U.S. and allied bases all through the First Island Chain, together with Guam and Okinawa.