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Minnie Chan

China will put its global naval strength to the test in unfamiliar waters in the second stage of an annual joint drill with Russia next week.
Naval experts said the exercises were aimed at showing that China and Russia were drawing closer amid simmering tensions over the Korean peninsula, with Beijing calling on the United States, Japan and South Korea to scale back their military drills in the region.
A Chinese missile destroyer, missile frigate, supply ship and submarine rescue vessel along with shipborne helicopters and submersible rescue vehicles set sail from Qingdao on Wednesday, according to a statement on the PLA Navy website.
What’s China worried about? Clue lies in where it’s holding navy drills
The drills will be held in the Sea of Japan and the Sea of Okhotsk from Monday to September 26, official news agency Xinhua reported.
The first part of the joint naval exercise was held in July, with the Chinese navy sailing over 10,000 nautical miles to reach the Baltic Sea. It was the first time the two countries had held a joint drill there.
Next week will be the first time the Chinese navy has conducted a drill in unfamiliar waters – the Sea of Okhotsk, off the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido.

It will also involve complicated submarine rescues and anti-submarine drills that have not been included in previous joint exercises between the two countries.
They will begin with coastal drills in Vladivostok from Monday to Thursday, and sea exercises from September 22 to 26, the Russian defence ministry said.
Beijing-based military expert Li Jie said China wanted to demonstrate its global fighting prowess with the drills.
“If the Chinese navy wants to be a real blue-water navy, it needs to be able to operate in all weather conditions and in unfamiliar waters. Only Russia can give China this type of training location,” Li said.
He also noted that the drills were happening at a time when the US was putting pressure on China to rein in North Korea’s nuclear ambitions while it continued to hold exercises of its own with Japan and South Korea in waters off the Korean peninsula.
China ‘shoots down incoming missiles’ during exercise over waters close to North Korea
“There’s a need for the PLA Navy to show off its fighting capabilities in case there is a military conflict in the area,” he said.
Shanghai-based naval expert Ni Lexiong said Japan would be displeased by the drills because they will be held in waters close to the disputed Kuril islands that are claimed by Japan and controlled by Russia.
“Moscow wouldn’t need Chinese help in the event of a maritime conflict with Japan, yet it is willing to make these important waters available for joint exercises. This shows Russia’s support for Beijing both politically and diplomatically,” Ni said.
The drills will be the eighth joint exercises between the two navies in the past six years. In 2015, China and Russia held two sets of drills – in the Mediterranean and the Sea of Japan.


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China’s military

Drills with Russia put Chinese navy to the test in unfamiliar waters

Chinese officers wave goodbye to the Russian fleet at the end of a joint naval drill off Guangdong in September last year. Photo: Xinhua

(160918) -- ABOARD WARSHIP GUANGZHOU, Sept. 18, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Chinese and Russian fleets fire main guns during a China-Russia naval joint drill at sea off south China's Guangdong Province, Sept. 18, 2016. Chinese and Russian fleets conducted weapon use on a sea area east of Zhanjiang in south China's Guangdong Province during the "Joint Sea 2016" drill on Sunday. (Xinhua/Zha Chunming) (yxb)

What’s China worried about? Clue lies in where it’s holding navy drills

China's naval drill in the Yellow Sea, in a photo released by the China National Radio. Photo: SCMP Pictures

This handout photo taken and released by the US Navy on June 1, 2017 shows the Carl Vinson strike group, including the USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70-in foreground), during a joint navel drill with the USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76-in background) and Japanese ships in the Sea of Japan (also known as the East Sea), off the Korean peninsula where a North Korean missile landed during a test fire on May 29. A pair of US aircraft carriers and Japanese naval vessels conducted a joint drill in waters off the Korean peninsula on June 1, in an apparent show of force days after the latest North Korean ballistic missile test. / AFP PHOTO / US NAVY / Z.A. Landers / -----EDITORS NOTE --- RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / US NAVY / Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Z.A. Landers" - NO MARKETING - NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

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China

Diplomacy

Exercise aimed at showing two countries are drawing closer, experts say
