South China Sea live-fire drill for PLA’s Hong Kong garrison
- Maritime exercise featured in Christmas Eve video release by state broadcaster CCTV
- Accompanying report compares city’s defence to magical weapon of mythical Chinese hero Monkey King
China’s state broadcaster released a video on Christmas Eve of Hong Kong’s PLA garrison conducting live-fire sea drills in the South China Sea.
While key details of the events were not included, the video released on the social media account of China’s Central Television military channel, said the drills were conducted “in recent days” without specifying an exact time, or location, or the craft involved.
The PLA warship Qinzhou, a type 056 corvette, which has been used in previous Hong Kong garrison naval drills, featured in the video.
In 2018, the vessel conducted an exercise with French navy frigate Vendemiaire in waters about 20 nautical miles off Hong Kong, including search and rescue and a communication exercise. The operation was said to raise the defence capability of the troops stationed in Hong Kong.
The vessel in the video launched “jamming missiles, to avoid enemy missile attacks” and fired secondary guns at a purported mine. Soldiers, speaking in Mandarin, appeared to take emergency actions as part of the drill, set to dramatic music in the video.
Soldiers on the boat wore uniforms and equipment marked as PLA Navy, the maritime branch of the People’s Liberation Army, led by China’s President Xi Jinping as commander-in-chief.