China is once again flexing its military muscle with a fresh round of naval exercises along the country's northeast and eastern coasts in what is widely seen as a show of force amid ongoing US military provocations in the region.
Chinese naval forces launched the first set of drills in the Bohai Sea, off the northeastern port of Qinhuangdao, on Monday, according to the Maritime Safety Administration.
The second set, including live-fire exercises, will be held in the southern part of the Yellow Sea on Tuesday and Wednesday off the city of Lianyungang.
All ships are prohibited from entering the area during the exercises, the administration said.
Beijing unveiled plans to hold four separate military exercises, from the Bohai Sea to the East and Yellow Seas and down to the disputed South China Sea in the end of July.
Since then, it has held at least ten rounds of drills in various waters including the East China and the South China Sea.
A Chinese military observer formerly explained the drills as “routine training.”
“Although these drills do not target any specific country, in the face of power that is challenging our sovereignty and security, such drills can make the enemy yield without use of arms,” Diao Daming, an associate professor at Renmin University’s National Academy of Development and Strategy.
“The US has been establishing its hegemony by provoking trouble, such as disrupting regional security in the South China Sea. Our drills demonstrate our resolve to maintain regional stability,” he added.
The United States routinely sends its warships and warplanes to the South China Sea to assert what it calls its “right” to “freedom of navigation,” in a move that has increased tensions with China.
Beijing has repeatedly advised Washington against stirring up trouble in the disputed waters, warning that potential close encounters between the air and naval forces of the two countries might trigger accidents.
NOURNEWS