China’s navy holds first missile resupply combat drill in Yellow Sea

China’s navy held its first drill simulating the resupply of missiles in a combat environment in the Yellow Sea, the Defence Ministry said, the latest sign of the country’s growing military prowess.

The live-fire exercises, involving ships, aircraft and land-based forces, featured the firing of missiles, torpedoes and shells, some of which were new models, the ministry said in a statement on its website.

They were fired to intercept surface, underwater and airborne targets, and the drill “for the first time organised a maritime missile combat resupply exercise”, it added, without giving details.

China has ramped up defence spending to modernise its forces, the world’s largest, which are gaining experience in operating far from its coast.

In a May defence strategy paper, China vowed to continue growing its “open seas protection” and criticised neighbours who take provocative actions on its reefs and islands.

China has almost finished building a 3,000-metre airstrip on one of its artificial islands in the disputed Spratly archipelago of the South China Sea, new satellite photographs of the area show.