Exercise in S China Sea a 'routine' practice
The Chinese navy Wednesday kicked off a 10-day military training exercise in the South China Sea amid heightened tensions in the region.
The military drills will be held east of South China's Hainan Province from Wednesday to July 31, the Maritime Safety Administration announced Monday.
"The drills are regular military exercises scheduled in the annual plan, without targeting any other country," the Ministry of National Defense said in a statement sent to the Global Times on Wednesday.
"Unlike U.S. military forces that can be trained in wars, Chinese navy strength, which lags behind ground forces, needs to be enhanced via regular drills," Major General Xu Guangyu, a senior consultant at the China Arms Control and Disarmament Association, told the Global Times.
Wang Yiwei, director of the Institute of International Affairs at the Renmin University of China, added that the drills will allow the Chinese navy force to share more international responsibilities with the US when providing maritime security, especially since the U.S. has slammed China for being a "free-rider" in international issues for three decades.
The drills came after increasing tensions in the waters caused by a spate of incidents in recent months that involved the Philippines, the U.S. and Japan.
The Xinhua News Agency reported on July 15 that the Philippine navy is quietly reinforcing the hull and deck of a rusting ship it ran aground on Ren'ai Reef that China claims in the South China Sea.
Philippine Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Charles Jose, said the ship is "for the safety of its personnel and safety of navigation."
A May CNN report revealed that a U.S. surveillance aircraft received eight warnings from the Chinese navy, asking the plane to leave as it swooped over some of the islets of the Nansha Islands chain in the South China Sea.
The US and Japan also conducted separate military drills with the Philippines in the South China Sea in June, signaling two major countries' support for Manila.
Dismissing speculations that the drills conducted by the Chinese navy have been aimed at the three countries, Xu told the Global Times on Wednesday that the drills cannot be hastily conducted to respond to recent incidents, since the navy has to prepare a drill for a long time in order to fully test the navy's weapons and tactics.
The locations prove that they are regular and non-offensive drills, Liu Feng, an expert on South China Sea studies, told the Global Times, adding that the drills are taking place near Hainan Island and the Xisha Islands, far from the disputed waters in the South China Sea.
'Hype' China threat
Wang Xiaopeng, a maritime border expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, noted that the speculation is intended to "internationalize" South China Sea issues and to "hype the China threat theory."
In 2013, the Philippines filed an arbitration case to The Hague questioning the maritime boundaries claimed by China. After a hearing in early July, the arbitral tribunal has yet to decide whether it has jurisdiction over the case.
China's ambassador to the Philippines, Zhao Jianhua, called on the Philippines on Wednesday to withdraw the case in The Hague and to return to bilateral negotiations, Reuters reported.
However, observers also agreed that the drills could deter certain countries from escalating and complicating situations in the South China Sea.
By demonstrating the navy's armament and combat readiness, the drills can deter any country that attempts to further stir up the inflammatory situation, such as the U.S. and Japan, Wang Xiaopeng told the Global Times.
With the right to collective self-defense provided by the security bills recently passed in Japan's lower house, Japan could intervene in disputes between China and other countries, including the Philippines and Vietnam, experts said.
"The military exercises can also give the Philippines a warning that it should stop endlessly provoking troubles," Wang Yiwei told the Global Times.
