BEIJING – The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) held combat-orientednaval exercises in three major sea areas amid US attempts to woo itsIndo-pacific partners for “credible deterrence” against China.
The PLA Northern, Eastern and Southern theater commands recently organizeddrills in the Yellow Sea, East China Sea and South China Sea respectivelyfeaturing various warships, China Central Television (CCTV) reported onMonday.
In the Yellow Sea, Type 056 and Type 056A corvettes Wuhai, Datong andYingkou formed a flotilla and practiced training courses including main gunshooting, secondary gun shooting and air defense by launching flares. Inthe East China Sea, Type 052C destroyer Jinan and Type 054A frigateChangzhou ran more than 10 training missions including free combat amongwarships, submarines and warplanes, and joint fire strikes. In the SouthChina Sea, different types of tug and support ships held maritime searchand rescue and emergency towing exercises, according to the CCTV report.
The PLA Southern Theater Command also paid tribute to heroes of in theChigua Reef Skirmish on March 14, 1988 against Vietnam by holding anotherexercise in the Beibu Bay, west of the Leizhou Peninsula in the South ChinaSea.
The intensive PLA naval exercises were organized at a time when US DefenseSecretary Lloyd Austin Saturday kicked off Asia visit to hold key meetingswith allies in Tokyo, New Delhi and Seoul.
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Austin in a tweet before the visit said, “As @SecBlinken and I travel toAsia tomorrow, we wanted to share thoughts on why this trip- and diplomacy-are so important. Of note, I view China as our pacing threat, and it’scritical we work with our Indo-Pacific partners to address the Chinachallenge”.
A Beijing based military expert told the Global Times that the PLA must beready to protect country’s sovereignty and other interests amid prevailingsecurity circumstance.
Director of the think tank Hu Bo told the media organization that that theUS will likely continue its efforts to interfere in regional affairs andenhance military presence in order to contain China.
