Tasks will include defensive and rescue drills, anti-submarine exercises and the simulated seizure of an enemy island by marines from both sides.
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In addition, “island seizing” activities, including anti-submarine operations, will feature alongside live fire drills and island defence.
The Russian side will provide three vessels surface two supply ships, two helicopters and 96 Marines, plus amphibious armored equipment.
Liang said the exercises would improve coordination between the two navies and advance the Russia-China strategic partnership.
This year, Russian Federation and China are holding their fifth naval drill under that name.
“These drills deepen mutual trust and expand cooperation, raise the ability to jointly deal with security threats, and benefit the maintenance of regional and global peace and stability”, he said.
Although the drills come amid tensions between China, its southern neighbours and the U.S. but Beijing claimed that the drill, that will concluded on the September 18, was a routine activity between the two armies. “The exercise is not directed against third parties”.
At the G20 summit last week, Chinese President Xi Jinping told Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to “exercise caution” on territorial disputes.
China claims 85 percent of the disputed waters while Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei have competing claims.
In July, an arbitration panel in The Hague, Netherlands, issued a ruling invalidating China’s claims to virtually the entire South China Sea, a result that Beijing angrily rejected as null and void. Also, US plans to deploy the so-called Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system in South Korea have raised alarms.
The U.S. Navy continues to carry out what it calls “freedom of navigation” patrols in those waters, to Beijing’s publicly-expressed annoyance.
McCain’s remarks came on the heels of President Barack Obama’s trip to Asia, during which difficulties between the USA and China were apparent, as Beijing has angered neighbors with its territorial claims over nearly the entire South China Sea, as well as its refused to accept the July ruling of an worldwide tribunal that found China’s claims there to have no basis.
The United States has repeatedly criticized China for aggressive involvement in the region.
China has rejected the worldwide tribunal’s verdict which invalidated Beijing’s extensive claims in the area, saying the tribunal has no legal standing. The case had been filed by the Philippines, whose economic and sovereign rights, the court said, had been violated by Beijing.
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China denied to accept or recognise the tribunal’s decision.
