A Chinese Air Force strategic bomber has landed - for the first time - on an island reef in the South China Sea. Beijing has hailed the exercise. But its neighbors and Washington are not so happy. CGTN's Yang Zhao has the details.

It was all part of a training exercise last week. Several bombers - including the most-advanced H-6K - landed and took-off from islands and reefs in the South China Sea. The PLA didn't specify which islands. But military experts believed it was Yongxing island - which is also home to the administrative headquarters of the Sansha City government. The latest exercise is believed to have elevated air force abilities of - quote: "reaching its full territory, assaulting in full time and space, and striking in full scope".

WANG GUOSONG BOMBER AVIATION REGIMENT COMMANDER PLA AIR FORCE "This training marks another significant step of our H-6K bombers toward accessing all areas and launching all-around attacks at any time. Taking off and landing on islands and reefs is no longer a tough task"

YANG ZHAO BEIJING "Military commentators said the next mission for the long-range H-6K strategic bomber - might be to land on China's farthest outlying artificial islands. It has a reported combat range of up to 35-hundred-kilometers. The Philippine presidential spokesman, Harry Roque, said that Manila couldn't independently verify the presence of Chinese bombers in the South China Sea. But he says Manila has serious concerns. In a written statement, Harry Roque says, quote: 'We are taking the appropriate diplomatic action necessary to protect our claims and will continue to do so in the future.' Manila did stop short of condemning China's action, after President Duterte conceded that the Philippines was powerless to stop Beijing's exercises in the South China Sea. The Pentagon on the other hand, condemned the exercise, calling it a move of 'militarizing the South China Sea'. China's Foreign Ministry offered this rebuttal."

LU KANG CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESPERSON "South China Sea islands are China's territory, relevant trainings are normal and routine trainings of the Chinese military, therefore it's unnecessary for other parties to unscramble it too much. As for the U.S. saying of so-called 'militarizing the South China Sea', I think what we are doing is completely different from flying its warships and aircraft from thousand miles away to this region to make threats to other countries."

YANG ZHAO BEIJING "Lu Kang was clearly referring to the U-S Navy itself, for frequently sending warships and aircraft carriers to patrol the area. The PLA said the latest exercise was a direct response to the U-S Air Force flying B-52 bombers there, during what Washington called a routine training mission in April."