A Chinese H-6 bomber flew along the disputed "Nine-Dash line" last week.
A Chinese H-6 bomber flew along the disputed "Nine-Dash line" last week.
China has flown a bomber across disputed territory in the South China Sea in what some are regarding as a major show of defiance to the United States.
The Xian H-6 nuclear-capable plane flew along territory outside its borders just days after US President-elect Donald Trump's controversial phone call with Taiwanese leader Tsai Ing-wen.
Trump spoke with Tsai last week, becoming the first President or President-elect to do so in decades, in a major break from US policy.
The Chinese H-6 bomber flew along the disputed "Nine-Dash line" last Thursday, around dozens of disputed Chinese islands, many of which have also been claimed by other countries.
It also marks the second time China flew a bomber in the region since Trump was elected and the first long-range flight along the line of demarcation since March last year.
Donald Trump's phone call with Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen raised eyebrows in China. Photo / File
US officials told Fox News the bomber flying over the disputed territory was designed to send a message to the incoming Trump administration following the phone call between Trump and Tsai.
The phone call didn't sit well with Chinese officials.
Beijing said the call signalled his "inexperience" with foreign policy but Trump remained defiant, implying he didn't need China's permission to talk to anyone.
However, according to Ashley Townshend from the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney, the bomber flight is unlikely to be a direct response to the Trump-Tsai phone call.
"The Chinese military has been expanding the scope and frequency of air force patrols over the South China Sea and Western Pacific for several years," he said.
"While these send a message about China's expanding strategic interests and military reach, they are generally not tit-for-tat responses to specific "provocations" by the United States."
Townshend also said such patrols are likely to continue regardless of US policy.
China had warned that any breach of the "One China" stance would "destroy" China-US relations following the phone call between Trump and Tsai.
Washington cut formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan in 1979 and no US President or President-elect is believed to have spoken to a Taiwanese leader since then.
The status of Taiwan has been one of the most sensitive issues in US-China relations. In recent days, Trump touched a raw nerve by questioning whether the United States should continue its "one China policy" without concessions from Beijing on trade and other issues, the Associated Press reported.
"I don't want China dictating to me," Trump said as he made a vehement defence of his recent phone conversation with the president of Taiwan.
"I don't know why we have to be bound by a one-China policy unless we make a deal with China having to do with other things, including trade."
