From the Daily Tribune (Dec 19):
Beijing conducts war games in disputed South China Sea
China’s military conducted war games in
the disputed South China Sea this week, an
official newspaper yesterday said, as tensions simmer over the Asian
superpower’s island-building in the region.
China insists it has
sovereignty over virtually all of the resource-rich South China Sea,
conflicting with the various claims of the Philippines,
Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan
and Brunei.
Warships, submarines, early warning aircraft and fighter jets were deployed in
exercises that occurred over a “range of several thousand kilometers,” the
People’s Liberation Army Daily said.
They were split into red and blue teams that practiced deflecting anti-ship
missile attacks and scenarios that included one of an accidental strike on a
third-party commercial ship, it added.
“Only by experiencing a variety of difficult situations can one not panic in
the midst of war and win,” the paper quoted Li Xiaoyan, deputy chief of staff
of the South China Sea fleet and commander of the red team, as saying.
China periodically announces
such exercises in the South China Sea, as it
tries to demonstrate it is being transparent about its military deployments.
On Sunday, the Defense Ministry said the navy had recently carried out drills
in the South China Sea. It was not clear if
the exercises referred to by the newspaper and these drills were the same.
The US Pacific Fleet Commander has earlier warned of a possible arms race in
the disputed South China Sea which could
engulf the region, as nations become increasingly tempted to use military force
to settle territorial spats.
Last week, the US deployed
for the first time a P-8 Poseidon spy plane in Singapore,
with local diplomats saying the decision was likely aimed at sending a message
to China about Washington’s resolve to oppose what they describe as Beijing’s aggressive
regional policy.
The US is critical of China building
artificial islands in the disputed sea, and has flown B-52 bombers and sailed a
guided-missile destroyer near some of the constructions in recent months.
Washington angered Beijing
in October when a US warship
sailed close to artificial islets that China
is building out into military bases, in what the US called a “freedom of navigation”
exercise.
Washington has said China’s
transformation of the geographical features in the Spratly Islands
poses a threat to freedom of navigation in the critical area.
http://www.tribune.net.ph/nation/beijing-conducts-war-games-in-disputed-south-china-sea
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