For the second time in two months, China is holding massive military drills in all four seas on its eastern border.
This week, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is hosting five military drills at sea: two in the South China Sea, one in the East China Sea and two in the Yellow Sea, one of which is in the Bohai Sea, the waterway’s innermost gulf, Reuters reported. According to the report, many of the drills will feature live-fire exercises.
This month’s exercises, which will extend into early October, come amid a pronounced uptick in US military activity in the Pacific, particularly in the waters close to China. Sputnik has documented how several American spy plane flights zigzag across the South China Sea and Yellow Sea daily, sometimes disguising themselves as civilian aircraft in an attempt to fool onlookers. The US has also led the huge Rim of the Pacific naval drills off the Hawaiian coast and Valiant Shield exercises in the Philippine Sea near Guam.
“The move would be primarily directed at the recent spate of US and allied military activities in those areas,” Koh said. “Operationally, it’s to showcase the PLA’s ability to carry out major mobilisation of forces for training across multiple sea areas – which also highlights that the PLA isn’t affected in any way by the pandemic.”
Sourse: sputniknews.com
