Exercises show desire of regional players to improve trust with China but will be no more than symbolic, observers sayFollows agreement by Asean and the US to hold a similar joint drills in the contested waters next year
China and Asean are holding their first joint naval exercises as Beijing targets stronger regional military ties and confronts a growing rivalry with the United States in the disputed South China Sea.
The six-day China-Asean Maritime Exercise got under way in Zhanjiang in southern China’s Guangdong province on Monday and will include personnel from all 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
The drills would involve eight ships, three helicopters and more than 1,200 personnel in helicopter cross-deck landings and a joint search-and-rescue operation based on the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea, China News Service reported.
Three Chinese vessels – the destroyer Guangzhou, the frigate Huangshan and the replenishment ship Junshanhu – would take part, the report.
Singapore has sent its Formidable-class frigate RSS Stalwart, while Brunei has dispatched a patrol vessel and Thailand and Vietnam have each sent a frigate. Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia and Myanmar sent observers.
In what is believed to be its first military drill with China after decades of strategic suspicion as well as the territorial confrontation in the Spratly Islands, the Philippines sent the logistic support vessel BRP Dagupan City, according to an earlier report by the Philippine News Agency.
Chinese Vice-Admiral Yuan Yubai, commander of the People Liberation Army Navy’s Southern Theatre Command, said the joint exercise was a significant move towards regional security, collaboration and confidence-building.
The drill was first proposed at the China-Asean defence ministers’ meeting in 2015 and comes as fears grow that China’s tensions with the US over trade and the South China Sea could affect Southeast Asia, where four Asean member-states – Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei and the Philippines – have overlapping claims with China.
