China has begun flexing its military muscle at the disputed waters in the East China Sea after it carried out an aerial exercise on November 27 in which two bomber groups flew within miles of Japanese airspace, a volatile flashpoint, in the region.

IHS Jane's Defence Weekly reported  that on November 27, eight bombers, supported by three surveillance and electronic intelligence (ELINT) aircrafts, flew over the East China Sea within the East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ).

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Eight bombers

Reports indicate that the eight bombers split into two groups with four flying over west of  Okinawa island, while the other four flew over the Miyako Strait, near the Japanese island of Miyakojima.

Photos of the aerial exercise were released by IHS Jane's Defence Weekly. China's increased military posturing in the hotly contested islands was reportedly a calculated strategy to unsettle its rivals.

In the South China Sea, several neighboring countries are embroiled in a territorial dispute over a group of islands, reefs, and islets, but China is claiming ownership of almost  95 percent  of all the islands in the region.

Reports indicate that the bombers flew within China's Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) which Beijing unilaterally declared in December 2013.

East China Sea ADIZ

The East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone is an air defense zone covering most of the East China Sea where China has announced that it was introducing new air traffic restrictions.

The area consists of the airspace from about, and including the Japanese-controlled Senkaku Islands, which are likewise being claimed by China and Taiwan.

About half of the area overlaps with a Japanese ADIZ while also overlapping to a small extent with the South Korean and the Japanese ADIZ.

The controversial East China Sea ADIZ  requires that all aircraft submit flight plans and answer identification queries from China, which does not represent a claim of sovereign airspace.

Military superiority

Critics say the declaration of ADIZ was made by China unilaterally in a bid to encompass natural gas fields and near maritime resources in the contested areas.

Military analysts said that although China's ADIZ does not reflect any more territorial claims by Beijing in the  region, the recent flight of the bombers was an attempt by China to show off its military superiority.

 No violation

Military strategic experts said the November 27 aerial operations in the region by China are not uncommon anymore and that Beijing did not violate any other countrys' airspace sovereignty in conducting the exercises.

Peter Dutton, a strategic researcher at the Naval War College's China Maritime Studies Institute, said that the exercise was a way for China to show off its military capabilities in the region and at the same time put its rivals on their toes.

"Really this is something that is becoming more common,"  Dutton said.

"It's the kind of exercise that demonstrates that the Chinese are developing the long-range airpower component of their anti-access, area-denial capability," he said.

TagsADIZ, bombers, aerial operations, East China Sea ADIZ, Senkaku Islands, Okinawa Island, Socotra Rock