by BILL GERTZ
Liaoning, China’s first aircraft carrier PHOTO/Wikipedia
China is attempting to counteract the near total isolation it has incurred from regional states as a result of its maritime claims by using a regional show of force together with the Russian military.
Large-scale war games in the South China Sea by Chinese and Russian naval forces included practice for taking over islands in the disputed waters and appear part of efforts by both states to counter the U.S. pivot to Asia.
The exercises began Sept. 13 and concluded Monday. Dubbed Joint Sea-2016, the Chinese and Russian naval maneuvers involved the use of both warships, aircraft and marines in practice combat operations – a clear sign Beijing continues gearing up for a future military conflict with the United States over China’s expansive maritime territorial claims.
It was the largest joint exercises since the two navies began holding the war games and the first in the contested South China Sea. Chinese military officials described the war games as “a strategic measure” aimed at increasing military and especially naval cooperation.
State-run Chinese and Russian news reports provided a glimpse into some of the operations that took place in three phases, the largest of which involved naval live fire drills, and anti-submarine warfare and air defense maneuvers. Details of the island-seizure practice were omitted in state-controlled media reports from both countries.
A total of 13 warships took part, including guided-missile destroyers, frigates, landing ships, supply ships and significantly – two submarines. The two Chinese submarines were not identified by type but were used in anti-submarine exercises.
Aircraft included 11 Chinese fixed-wing warplanes and eight helicopters. A total of 160 Chinese marines also participated.
Russia dispatched three warships, two supply vessels, two helicopters and 96 marines, along with armored amphibious tanks.
The war games took place not far from the disputed Paracels claimed by China, Vietnam and others.
The operations were carried out near the city of Zhanjiang, located in southern Guangzhou province and north of the South China Sea’s Hainan Island, where China’s main regional military base is located.
A Pentagon official said U.S. reconnaissance assets, both sea-based and aerial, closely monitored the maneuvers.
In Washington, Japan’s Defense Minister Tomomi Inada said last week that Japan supports the Pentagon’s limited freedom-of-navigation operations in the sea to counter what she called attempted coercion by China. And Inada announced Japanese naval forces would soon join American naval forces in joint patrols in the South China Sea.
“Japan, on its part, will increase its engagement in the South China Sea,” she said during think tank speech. “So for example, maritime defense forces joint training cruises with the U.S. Navy, bilateral maritime exercises with regional navies as well as providing capacity-building assistance to coastal nations.”
The announcement drew a harsh response from China denouncing any international patrols as “gunboat diplomacy” that would be met with unspecified countermeasures.
Sticking to its policy of seeking to avoid upsetting China, the Obama administration remained relatively silent on the joint South China Sea exercise.
Adm. Harry Harris, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, made no mention of the war games during a speech Sept. 15 in Los Angeles.
Harris, who only months ago had been very outspoken in denouncing what he termed China’s “Great Wall of Sand” in the sea, appears to have been muzzled. In his Los Angeles remarks, Harris said only that Moscow and Beijing need to follow an international rules-based order.
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