Relations between China and Pakistan have often been labelled as “all-weather friends”. China has gone out of the way in assisting Pakistan to develop nuclear warheads, ballistic missiles, fighter jets and other defence equipment to challenge the Indian might.
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Talking the collaboration forward, Pakistan and China are scheduled to hold joint military drills in the northern Arabian Sea in January 2020.
According to the ministry’s spokesman Ren Guoqiang and as reported by the EurAsian Times – The exercise is conducive to deepening security cooperation between the two militaries, consolidating and developing the China-Pakistan all-weather strategic cooperative partnership, and promoting the building of a maritime community with a shared future.
The Naval drills between two strategic allies could include destroyer, frigates, supplement ship and a submarine rescue ship from the Chinese side according to China’s Ministry of Defense. Though the proper schedule is not yet out, but these joint drills will be conducted off the Pakistani coast in the Arabian Sea.
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Besides the Naval drills, Pakistan and China are also involved in The Warrior series joint military exercise which aims to curb terrorism and enhance cooperation and communication between two armies.
Additionally, the two air forces also carry out extensive ariel drills, including the Shaheen exercises, which was recently concluded in September. The drills featured state-of-art fighter jets, surface-to-air missiles and radar installations from both China and Pakistan.
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Pakistan also recently wrapped up its sixth AMAN biennial multinational naval exercise, aiming to increase collaboration among regional and other navies to ensure security in the Indian Ocean. AMAN-19 was held Feb. 8-12 and involved 46 countries as well as international warships and observers. AMAN is one of the few multinational exercises where Chinese and U.S. warships regularly participate.
Through these joint drills, both China and Pakistan are attempting to showcase their capabilities, resources, military coordination’s in front of the world as Beijing continues to invest in Pakistan to connect to Central Asia and beyond and simultaneously checking the growing Indian influence.
