The PLA naval division in charge of the Taiwan Strait and the East China Sea conducted a rare joint exercise with a regional coastguard unit, the navy said on Monday, without saying when or where it took place.
The exercise simulated a joint air and sea response to an enemy missile attack on a frigate flotilla from the Eastern Theatre Command. The participants also practised countering “violent resistance” to law enforcement activities.
The “interdisciplinary and overnight” drill was aimed at improving their “coordination and combat capacity”, according to a post on the navy’s WeChat social media account.
Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team.
The Eastern Theatre Command – one of the People’s Liberation Army’s five divisions – oversees the security of Shanghai and five eastern Chinese provinces, the East China Sea, and the Taiwan Strait.
It conducts regular drills in the strait, but the exercises do not usually involve the coastguard, a paramilitary force that is part of the People’s Armed Police Force.
The post said the joint exercise involved the navy’s Ezhou and Yiwu corvettes. Pictures in the post also showed coastguard vessel 11506, based in Jiangsu province.
The navy-coastguard drill came three months after President Xi Jinping visited the coastguard command office for the East China Sea and called on its officers to safeguard the country’s maritime rights.
The coastguard should “effectively” enforce China’s laws and “resolutely defend” its territorial sovereignty, he told the paramilitary force.
The force, which is used mainly for search and rescue and other maritime policing functions, has been on the front line of tensions in the East and South China seas, particularly with repeated face-offs occurred between China and Japan near the Diaoyu Islands, known as the Senkaku Islands in Japan.
Beijing has also vowed to make regular coastguard patrols in the Taiwan Strait following fatalities in the waters in recent months.
They include the deaths of two mainland Chinese fishermen whose boat capsized during a chase by Taiwanese patrol vessels near Quemoy, also known as Kinmen.
Beijing accused the Taiwanese coastguard of using “violent and dangerous methods” in the pursuit while Taipei insisted its coastguard followed legitimate procedures and the speedboat had entered its “prohibited waters”.
The mainland considers Taiwan to be part of its territory which must be reunited, by force if necessary. Most countries – including the United States, Taipei’s informal ally and top arms supplier – do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state.
More from South China Morning Post:
- China’s coastguard claims it drove off Philippine ship from disputed Scarborough Shoal
- Xi Jinping tells coastguard to enforce law, ‘resolutely defend’ territorial sovereignty, while on East China Sea visit
- Chinese, Japanese coastguards trade warnings near disputed East China Sea islands
- East China Sea tensions rise as Chinese coastguard overshadows Japanese mayor’s ‘symbolic’ trip to disputed Diaoyu/Senkaku islands
For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2024.
