China and Russian Federation would start a joint naval drill in the South China Sea on Monday.
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The drills are the fifth of their kind since 2012, but are the first to be held in the South China Sea.
The navies will undertake defense, rescue and anti-submarine operations, as well as the seizing of islands and other activities.
Liang noted that the exercise featuring surface ships, submarines, fixed-wing aircraft, ship-borne helicopters and marines will include aerospace defense, anti-submarine operations, naval and air battle, and island and reef seizure. In July, a United Nations-backed arbitration court ruled against China’s historic rights to the disputed maritime territory. China did not participate in the case and has rejected the ruling.
Retired PLA colonel Yue Gang said Beijing and Moscow had each confronted rising challenges from Washington – from the stand-off with China in the South China Sea to the sanctions imposed by the West over Russian Federation after Moscow’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.
The statement added that “Forces outside the region should not intervene”, ostensibly referencing the United States, which has been carrying out regular freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea, drawing Chinese criticism.
China said earlier that the drills were not aimed at any other country, but Chinese military observers said the exercises would be a “joint and effective response” to military pressures from the US.
A Chinese defense ministry spokesman said in July that the drill “does not target any third party”.
A Chinese guided missile destroyer takes part in a week-long China-Russia navy exercise in the East China Sea off Shanghai in 2014.
Russian Federation and China have steadily increased their defense cooperation and Moscow has refrained from criticizing Beijing’s position on the South China Sea, where it claims nearly 90 percent of the waters under its ambiguous nine-dash line claim that was overruled by the Hague-based arbitral tribunal in July.
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In 2015, the drill was conducted in two phases: in the Mediterranean in May and then in the Peter the Great Gulf, the waters off the Clerk Cape, and the Sea of Japan in late August.
