Last Updated on September 29, 2020, 8:44 AM AST by Anthony Morris
China started five military exercises simultaneously along various parts of the country’s coast on Monday.
It is for the second time in two months that China is having such coincidental drills against surroundings of rising regional tension.
Two of the activities are being carried near the Paracel Islands in the disputed South China Sea, one in further north in the Bohai Sea and one in the East China Sea, the Maritime Safety Administration said.
Another notice from the Maritime Safety Administration said that drills which include live-fire activities will be carried from Monday to Wednesday in the southern part of the Yellow Sea.
It added that all ships are forbidden from entering the area.
In a bid of training a combat-ready military force, China periodically holds military drills, but rarely does multiple exercises simultaneously.
China announced four separate exercises last month, from the Yellow Seas and down to the disputed South China Sea and the Bohai Sea to the East and the Chinese military experts have said that it is a rare arrangement of drills.
Last month, the US had sent spy planes into a no-fly zone over Chinese live-fire military drills. In response, China had lodged stern representations with the US.
China and the United States have recently been at loggerheads over a range of issues from Taiwan to the coronavirus pandemic to trade and human rights.
China has also held frequent military activities near Chinese-claimed Taiwan and has taken the usual step of declaring that such drills are directed at Taiwan.
Anthony Morris covers stories related to politics and regional developments. His in-depth reporting about governance and reforms makes him stand out in regional journalism, with a deep analysis of political trends and their impact on Caribbean communities.
