China, Pakistan complete Sea Guardians 2020 joint naval exercise in Arabian Sea

Nine-day operation sees special forces, warships, submarines and aerial assets taking part in series of live-fire drills

India sends aircraft carrier to monitor events amid simmering tensions in region

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Sea Guardians 2020 was the sixth joint naval drill between China and Pakistan. Photo: Weibo

Published: 9:00pm, 14 Jan 2020Updated: 4:15pm, 17 Feb 2020

Chinese and Pakistani troops completed a nine-day naval exercise in the Arabian Sea on Tuesday, against a backdrop of simmering tensions in the Middle East and South Asia.

The operation – Sea Guardians 2020 – was the sixth joint naval drill between the two countries and took place in the northern reaches of the waterway and along the Pakistani shoreline. It involved special forces, warships, aerial assets and, for the first time, submarines in a series of live-fire exercises.

Tensions have been running high in the region since the killing of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in a US air strike earlier this month and the increased hostility between India and Pakistan in the disputed region of Kashmir

The exercise involved warships, submarines and aerial assets. Photo: Weibo

While the US and India were likely to have been keeping a close eye on the exercises – New Delhi deployed an aircraft carrier to monitor events – experts said the operation was largely routine and not intended to stoke tensions.

“It was planned well in advance, long before things began escalating in the Middle East,” said Du Youkang, director of the Pakistan Study Centre at Fudan University in Shanghai.

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