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China holds naval drills ahead of US-led Quad exercise off the coast of Guam
- PLA is conducting live ammunition training in the South China Sea, Yellow Sea and Bohai Strait
- It will finish as American, Indian, Australian and Japanese navies begin high-profile Malabar exercise
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China kicked off a series of naval exercises on Tuesday, ahead of a high-profile joint drill between the US and other members of the strategic Quad alliance off the coast of Guam.
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Chinese forces are conducting live ammunition training near the southern province of Guangdong in the South China Sea, and off the northeast coast near Liaoning in the Yellow Sea and Bohai Strait, according to Maritime Safety Administration notices warning against entry to the waters.
The drills will run until Thursday but no further details have been announced.
It comes as the United States is seeking to reassure allies of its commitment to the region amid fallout from the Afghanistan withdrawal and the chaotic fall of Kabul. Speaking in Singapore on Tuesday, Vice-President Kamala Harris took aim at China, saying it posed a threat to Asian nations but that the US would not force them to choose between the world’s two largest economies.
Harris also identified China’s “unlawful” territorial claims in the disputed South China Sea as a key regional threat. “Beijing’s actions continue to undermine the rules-based order and threaten the sovereignty of nations,” she said in the speech ahead of a visit to Vietnam.
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In Singapore, US VP Harris talks about South China Sea, US exit from Afghanistan and Covid-19
In Singapore, US VP Harris talks about South China Sea, US exit from Afghanistan and Covid-19
Beijing claims the vast majority of the resource-rich South China Sea, a long-standing source of regional tension with other claimants including Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines. The US has carried out frequent military exercises and transits through the waters in a bid to push back on what it says is Chinese overreach and militarisation of the waters, while Beijing has accused the US of threats of force and provocations in the South China Sea.
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