By Christopher Bodeen The Associated Press
BEIJING â The Chinese and Russian navies launched eight days of war games in the South China Sea on Monday, in a sign of growing co-operation between their armed forces against the backdrop of regional territorial disputes.
The âJoint Sea-2016â manoeuvrs include ships, submarines, ship-borne helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft, along with marines and amphibious armoured vehicles who will conduct live-firing exercises, according to a Defence Ministry statement Sunday.
Tasks will include defensive and rescue drills, anti-submarine exercises and the simulated seizure of an enemy island by marines from both sides.
The exercise is part of an annual program which âaims to consolidate and advance the Sino-Russian comprehensive strategic partnership of co-ordination, and deepen friendly and practical co-operation between the two militaries,â Chinese navy spokesman Liang Yang was quoted as saying.
âIt will also improve co-ordination between the two navies on joint defence operations at sea,â Liang said.
Chinaâs South Sea Fleet will make up the bulk of the forces, along with some elements from the North and East Sea fleets, Liang said.
The ministry didnât say exactly where the drills would be held in the South China Sea, the site of heated territorial disputes between China and its Southeast Asian neighbours. However, the official Xinhua News Agency said the Russian ships arrived early Monday in the Guangdong province port of Zhanjiang and the exercises would be held off the Guangdong coast, apparently in waters that are not in dispute.
Joint Chinese-Russian drills have become increasingly common in recent years âĂĂŽ this weekâs exercises are the fifth between the two navies since 2012 âĂĂŽ with the countries joined in their mutual suspicion of the U.S. and its allies.
Russia has been the only major country to speak out on Chinaâs behalf in its demand that the U.S. and other countries stay out of such arguments. That came as an arbitration panel in The Hague, Netherlands, issued a ruling invalidating Chinaâs claims to virtually the entire South China Sea, a result that Beijing angrily rejected as null and void.
Following the ruling, China vowed to continue developing man-made islands in the disputed Spratly island group and said it would conduct regular aerial patrols over the strategically vital sea through which passes an estimated $5 trillion in trade each year.
While China says the drills do not envision specific enemies or target any third parties, their location in the South China Sea has drawn criticism.
During a visit to China last month, the commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, Adm. Scott Swift, said âThere are other places those exercises could have been conducted.â He described them as part of a series of actions âthat are not increasing the stability within the region.â
Xinhua rejected such sentiments in a commentary Monday, saying those viewing the exercises as threatening were âeither ill-informed … or misled by their prejudice about China and Russia.â
âA logical guess is that, for those who have bought the sensational claim regarding the drill, they probably only see words like âisland seizingâ and âSouth Sea Fleetâ and start to imagine a war in the South China Sea,â Xinhua said, blaming sensationalistic Western media reports that it did not further identify.
Russian news outlets said 18 ships, 21 aircraft and more than 250 marines from both sides would take part in the drills. The ships include destroyers, cruisers, a Russian battleship, amphibious warfare ships and supply vessels.
However, Xinhua said the Russian component would include three surface ships, two supply ships, two helicopters, 96 marines, and amphibious armoured equipment.
Chinaâs navy would contribute 10 ships, including destroyers, frigates, amphibious ships, supply vessels and submarines, along with 11 fixed-wing aircraft, eight helicopters, 160 marines and amphibious armour, it said.
