Navy fleet to hold drill in west Pacific
- Source: Global Times
- [01:07 June 10 2011]
- Comments
By Zhang Han
A navy fleet of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) will conduct a training drill in international waters in the west Pacific in mid to late June, according to a press release issued Thursday by the Ministry of National Defense.
The press release came after some Japanese media published reports expressing fears over recent moves by Chinese naval vessels in international waters close to Japanese territory.
The press release said that the drill is in line with relevant international laws and does not target any specific country, in response to reports that Chinese navy ships previously passed through waters between the Japanese islands of Okinawa and Miyako.
"This will be a regular drill according to the annual plan (of the PLA)," said the press release.
Experts believed that on Thursday's press release was aimed at clearing up misunderstandings among some Japanese media that had reported the regular military drill as a security threat.
Sankei Shimbun, a Japanese newspaper, reported Wednesday that eight Chinese navy vessels had passed through international waters between Okinawa and Miyako Wednesday while another three vessels had traveled the same route on Thursday morning.
According to an earlier Global Times report, a total of 10 military vessels did pass through this route in a military drill on April 10, while two other vessels also passed through for training purposes in July last year.
"China's training drill is just a regular practice for the troops. Meanwhile, those Chinese vessels are actually very far away from Japan and in international waters, where they are unable to harm any Japanese," Liu Jiangping, a military expert, told the Global Times.
Liu told the Global Times that the Japanese reports were not based on fact, and were harming Sino-Japanese relations as Prime Minister Naoto Kan comes under mounting pressure to quit from his post.
"The Japanese media should take a more objective stand over China's regular military drills, in order to enhance mutual understanding between the two countries," Liu told the Global Times.
The chief of the General Staff of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Chen Bingde has confirmed that China's first aircraft carrier is under construction. An official from the PLA also added that the carrier will not enter other nations' territories after it is completed, the Hong Kong Commercial Daily reported on Tuesday.
