In yet another show of aggression in the South China Sea, China’s PLA Navy conducted amphibious assault drills off the coast of Guangdong Province recently.
The navy has set-up multiple records including “fastest speed” and “longest combat range” during the drills, state-owned Global Times tweeted.
Watch: #PLA Navy recently conducted amphibious assault drills offshore of South China's Guangdong Province, setting up multiple records including "fastest speed" and "longest combat range." pic.twitter.com/m8bxtBn9D4
— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) November 17, 2020
A 53-second video posted by the Global Times shows Jinggang Shan (999) ship, China’s Type 071 amphibious transport dock Yuzhao class, among other naval vessels, tanks and army men. Recently, China’s Central Military Commission (CMC) had released an outline on improving joint combat capabilities of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), which is aimed at war preparedness.
According to Chinese experts, these joint exercises are necessary amid the increasing risk of military conflicts in some regions such as the Taiwan Straits, the South China Sea and the China-India border.
The outline largely focuses on enhancing PLA’s capacity to attack large islands and to fight a quick battle on the Taiwan island, which is similar to the drills conducted by PLA Navy in Guangdong Province.
Amid US military support to Taiwan, China has warned that it may go to any extent and use power to make the renegade province part of mainland China. In case of a military conflict, China would need air, navy, land, and rocket forces as well as strategic and logistic support to invade the island nation.
According to reports, China will be holding two simultaneous exercises in the South China Sea on Tuesday, and one of them could feature amphibious landing drills. A set of military exercises will be held in a sea region west of the Leizhou Peninsula from Tuesday until November 30, and another set of exercises will be conducted in the Honghai Bay on Tuesday, the Chinese media reported.
China’s military exercises have come even as India, US, Japan, and Australia began the second phase of the Malabar Naval exercise in the Arabian Sea. The annual exercise — Australia has joined it for the first time in 13 years — is being termed as efforts of these countries to counter Chinese influence in the Indo-Pacific region.
