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Sarah Zheng

China will stage a second naval drill off the coast of the Korean peninsula in the Yellow Sea on Saturday, just a week after the last one.
The exercise comes after North Korea conducted its second intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test on July 28.
The four-day drill within a cordoned-off area between the coast of Qingdao and the waters east of Lianyungang – a potential flashpoint for regional security – is aimed at sending a message of deterrence and showing its military might to North Korea, the United States and others in the region, analysts say.
Chinese navy helps US hunt for missing sailor in disputed seas
Beijing has not released detailed information about the live-fire drill, aside from saying it would be carried out from Saturday until Tuesday, according to notices from the PLA Navy’s North Sea Fleet and the Shandong Maritime Safety Administration.
It follows a similar three-day naval exercise from July 27 to July 29 in the Yellow Sea – the northern part of the East China Sea.
Analysts noted the timing of the drill, which comes after flare-ups between Beijing and Washington over Pyongyang’s latest missile test.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Thursday called on all parties to avoid taking “any actions that will lead to an escalation in tensions” on the Korean peninsula.
Malcolm Davis, an expert in Chinese defence at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said the latest drill was about deterring North Korea while acting as a show of force for the US and Japan.
“It’s basically a warning to Pyongyang,” he said. “The Chinese would really like to get the North Koreans to back down, but it largely depends on whether [North Korean leader] Kim Jong-un is ready to do that.”

The drill also comes as US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi prepare to meet at the Asean Regional Forum of foreign ministers in Manila on Saturday.
“Nothing is ever coincidental in international relations – the timing does reinforce the message,” Davis said. “But China can only do so much, and I think that the main Chinese focus there will be on avoiding a trade war with the Americans.”
China calls for calm tack on North Korea sanctions ahead of Asean summit
It could also be seen as a “call for peace” in the Yellow Sea, according to Collin Koh, a maritime security expert at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University. Koh said it signalled to nations such as the US that they should “not even entertain the thought of military action against North Korea”.
“This is a very normal part of diplomacy – there are talks and negotiations, but there is always in the background some sort of drum-beating,” he said.
But Koh cautioned: “The danger here is, we’ll never know ... These countries are all quite heavily armed and are operating in quite a constricted space.”
Euan Graham, director of the international security programme at the Lowy Institute, argued that China’s naval drills could benefit North Korea’s interests, while serving as a warning to the United States. “The so-called [Sino-US] honeymoon period is now over, and the two sides are moving towards a more conflictual relationship that’s playing out in several domains and several geographic areas, and the Yellow Sea is – no surprise – one of them,” he said.
Graham added that the Yellow Sea could become part of the wider North Korea conflict if the US felt China was obstructing its freedom to operate near its ally South Korea.
US may soon expand talks on North Korea sanctions hinting a deal with China may be close
Beijing reportedly conducted a massive missile test against a US Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) target in Inner Mongolia last Saturday, a day before the People’s Liberation Army celebrated its 90th anniversary with a major parade at the nearby Zhurihe training base.
Beijing-based military expert Zhou Chenming said the missile test in Inner Mongolia could also be seen as a response to the escalating tension over North Korea.
“Everyone knows the Korean peninsula is unsafe because of Pyongyang’s missile tests, but no one can figure out a better way,” he said. “Nuclear powers like Russia and the US are all testing missiles, and now Beijing wants to remind the world that it’s also a nuclear power.”
The US test-launched an ICBM on Wednesday, and successfully shot down a simulated intermediate-range ballistic missile with its military defence system last weekend. The THAAD system was tested in Alaska, but the US has also deployed a THAAD system in South Korea, drawing China’s ire.
Russia also test-launched an ICBM from a nuclear submarine in June in the Barents Sea in the Arctic.
Additional Reporting by Minnie Chan


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China’s military

Beijing sends warning with second naval drill in Yellow Sea

Chinese J-15 fighter jets on the deck of the Liaoning aircraft carrier during military drills in the Yellow Sea in December. Photo: AFP

FILE - This file photo distributed by the North Korean government shows what was said to be the launch of a Hwasong-14 intercontinental ballistic missile, ICBM, in North Korea's northwest, Tuesday, July 4, 2017. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this photo. North Korea’s flurry of missile launches - 20 of them just in the past year - are a new and alarming fact of life for Japan and its other neighbors. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP, File)

China stages high-profile naval drill off Korean peninsula

Chinese J-15 fighter jets are launched from the deck of the Liaoning aircraft carrier during earlier military drills in the Yellow Sea on December 23. Photo: AFP

A woman walks by a TV news program showing images of North Korean missile launch, published in the country's Rodong Sinmun newspaper, at Seoul Railway station in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, May 15, 2017. North Korea said Monday the missile it launched over the weekend was a new type of "medium long-range" ballistic rocket that can carry a heavy nuclear warhead. A jubilant leader Kim Jong Un promised more nuclear and missile tests and warned that North Korean weapons could strike the U.S. mainland and Pacific holdings. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

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Analysts say four-day exercise off Korean peninsula is message of deterrence for Pyongyang and show of force aimed at US and Japan
