Colonel Shen Jinke, news spokesperson of the Chinese air force, said on the 28th November that the Chinese air force had dispatched S-30 and J-11 and other main battle aircraft for a standard air patrol in China's East China Air Defense Identification Zone, so as to reinforce the monitoring of aerial targets and carry out a range of missions and tasks. Interviewed by a media reporter, military expert Du Wenlong said that we have placed both "eyes" and "fists" in the Air Defense Identification Zone at the same time, and have given full play to our active capabilities.

Shen Jinke said that the Chinese air force had dispatched one Air Warning-2000 plane and several main battle aircraft including S-30 and J-11 on these patrols. He pointed out that the air patrols were a preventive measure, conforming to standard international practice.

He emphasized that the Chinese air force always maintains a high state of defense readiness, and will take the appropriate measures to deal with any air threats and resolutely protect the security of China's air defenses.

Explaining the format of the patrols, Du Wenlong said that this particular model is an air-to-air combination: i.e. it organizes the early warning aircraft and fighters into air formations while cruising in the Air Defense Identification Zone. This allows the air command and early warning capacity and the air interception capacity to be very closely combined. The Air Early Warning 2000 not only has a very wide scope of early warning and a long scouting range, but also can control many groups of targets with great precision. In addition, it can also command large numbers of aircraft tasked with intercepting targets.