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Amid rising tension with US, China holds live-fire drills near South China Sea
The US had, earlier this month, deployed two of its frontline aircraft carriers and their strike groups comprising more battleships, in the South China Sea besides flying reconnaissance aircraft in the region.
China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has begun a well-publicised live-fire drill in the southern Guangdong province’s Leizhou Peninsula, considered to be the doorstep of the South China Sea (SCS), official media reported on Sunday.
The week-long drills, which will include anti-ship and anti-aircraft exercises by the PLA air force with the PLA’s navy and rocket forces joining in, are being held in the backdrop of rising tension with the US over, among other issues, the SCS disputes and Washington’s sale of arms to Taiwan.
Last week, for the first time, Washington rejected China’s maritime claims in the SCS, large parts of which are also claimed by Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, and Taiwan.
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The messaging behind the PLA’s latest drill is directed at the US, which had also, earlier this month, deployed two of its frontline aircraft carriers and their strike groups comprising more battleships, in the SCS besides flying reconnaissance aircraft in the region.
The PLA, however, did not share the specifics of the exercise.
Song Zhongping, a Chinese military expert, told the nationalistic Global Times tabloid that maritime live-fire drills by the air force usually include shooting aircraft and surface vessels.
“Such drills could train to secure air superiority and target hostile warships in the SCS,” Song said.
In a potential anti-ship exercise featuring the PLA’s Rocket Force, ballistic missiles can target large surface vessels and heavy anti-ship cruise missiles could also conduct long-range strike from 300 to 400 kilometres away, Song told the tabloid.
Earlier in the month, China’s air force held live-fire drills and sent more fighter jets to one of its bases in the SCS, official media reported.
A brigade under the PLA Southern Theater Command Navy aviation forces based in south China’s Hainan Province held live-fire maritime target attack drills with JH-7 fighter bombers, China National Radio (CNR) reported.
