China announces navy drill ahead of US show of force

[Neo]

China announces navy drill ahead of US show of force

* Beijing will hold live ammunition exercise in Yellow Sea, where US and N Korea have planned additional joint manoeuvers early next month

BEIJING: The Chinese navy will hold a live-ammunition exercise in the Yellow Sea, where Washington and Seoul announced their own plan for a military exercise that has riled Beijing, China’s Ministry of Defence said on Sunday.

The Ministry said a naval fleet would stage the drill this week from Wednesday to Saturday in the sea between China and the Korean peninsula, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

“This is an annual routine training exercise, mainly involving the firing of shipboard artillery,” the Ministry said, according to Xinhua.

The announcement, nonetheless, follows a pattern of China publicising its own military exercises in parallel to those held by Washington and Seoul, which Beijing has criticised as destabilising at a time of tensions over North Korea. China said its naval exercise will be held off its coastal city of Qingdao, meaning they will be well away from the US-South Korea exercises in waters closer to the Korean coast.

The North’s secretive leader Kim Jong-il appears to be now visiting China, his country’s only major ally, Chinese and South Korean sources have said.

The United States and South Korea have planned additional joint maneuvers in the Yellow Sea early next month, although no dates have been announced. Last month’s drills were held in the East Sea, the waters off the Korean peninsula’s east coast. The series of joint US-South Korean exercises were planned as a show of force aimed at rebuking North Korea after an international investigation found that it had torpedoed a South Korean ship in March, killing 46 sailors on board. North Korea has denied the allegation and China has not joined the international condemnation of the North.

Friction between Beijing and Washington over Chinese maritime claims and US naval activities has added to irritants between the two countries, which have also sparred this year over Taiwan, Tibet, the Internet and Chinese exchange rate policy. The United States has criticised Chinese claims to swathes of the South China Sea, where Taiwan and several Southeast Asian states also assert sovereignty.

The United States has said it will conduct an anti-submarine warfare exercise with South Korea in the Yellow Sea in early September. That is intended to send a warning to North Korea that Washington is committed to defending its ally, South Korea, the Pentagon said this month.

Last month, the United States and South Korea held a naval drill in the Sea of Japan off the Korean peninsula, prompting condemnation from China, which answered with its own heavily publicised military exercises.

The July drill was initially scheduled to take place in the Yellow Sea, but was moved to the other side of the Korean peninsula after objections from Beijing.

The United States and South Korea accuse North Korea of torpedoing a South Korean naval ship in March, killing 46 sailors. Chinese military newspapers have said the US-led military exercises in the Yellow Sea would be unduly provocative at a time of volatile tensions over North Korea. Chinese Rear Admiral Yang Yi also said that those exercises would be provocatively close to north China’s political and economic heartland. reuters

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

[Neo]

China launches live-fire naval exercise in Yellow Sea

* Chinese navy to conduct ‘ammunition drill’ in waters near Qingdao city
* US, South Korea set to carry out new round of joint drills in Yellow Sea

BEIJING: China launched live-fire naval exercises in the Yellow Sea on Wednesday after voicing opposition to similar war games to be staged there this month by the United States and South Korea.

The Beihai fleet of the navy of the People’s Liberation Army will conduct a “live ammunition drill” through Saturday in waters off the east coast near the city of Qingdao, the state Xinhua news agency reported. The report said many of the planes, vessels and battlefield weaponry to be used in the exercises were unveiled at the National Day military parade on October 1 last year, when China celebrated 60 years of Communist rule.

“This is an annual routine training, mainly involving the shooting of shipboard artillery,” Xinhua had said in a previous report, citing China’s defence ministry. The United States and South Korea are set to carry out a new round of joint drills in the Yellow Sea from Sunday in another show of force against communist North Korea following the sinking of a South Korean warship in March.

Any military drills involving the United States in the Yellow Sea are a sensitive issue because of the area’s proximity to China and the disputed maritime boundary between North and South Korea. China has bristled at the idea of a US aircraft carrier group patrolling waters near its coast, although the US military has said this month’s planned anti-submarine exercise would not involve a carrier.

As China launched its war games, PLA commander Zhang Youxia met in Pyongyang with North Korea’s number two leader Kim Yong-Nam and pledged to step up military exchanges, Xinhua said.

The United States and South Korea staged massive joint naval and air exercises in July in the nearby Sea of Japan (East Sea), which also drew criticism from Beijing — North Korea’s closest ally and trade partner.

Seoul and its allies say the sinking of the South Korean corvette the Cheonan in March was caused by a North Korean torpedo attack, but Beijing has refused to join in international condemnation of Pyongyang over the incident.

China staged its own naval, air and artillery exercises in late July, though it was not clear if the drills had been pre-planned or were in response to the US-South Korea manoeuvres.

Last month, the South staged its largest-ever anti-submarine drill including live-fire training near the disputed Yellow Sea border, prompting a North Korean artillery barrage fired into the sea.

Also in August, the United States and South Korea held annual 10-day joint war games on land that involved more than 80,000 troops. afp

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