Naval exercise Sea Guardian 2023 to enhance defence cooperation between Pakistan, China

Naval officers of Pakistan and China on Monday held a joint press conference in Karachi regarding naval exercise Sea Guardian 2023 in which the navies of both the countries will participate.

Commodore Asim Sohail Malik from the Pakistan Navy and Senior Captain Qi Jian from Peoples Liberation Army Navy of China briefed the audience about objectives contours and conduct of the exercise.

Commodore Malik said Pakistan and China had always enjoyed strategically unique and strong relationship. He expressed the hope that the naval exercise would further strengthen the decades-old and time-tested friendship between the two countries and also open new avenues for future maritime cooperation against common threats in the region.

Senior Captain Qi Jian said the exercise was being conducted to strengthen all weather strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries and it aimed at enhancing defence cooperation, deepening professional exchanges, and facilitating the establishment of a regular mechanism for joint exercises between China and Pakistan.

He remarked that Sea Guardian 2023 also demonstrated the common mission and determination of the two countries to defend China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

Frontline destroyers, frigates, helicopters, rescue ships, submarines and special forces from the Pakistan Navy and Peoples Liberation Army will be participating in the exercise divided into two phases — harbour phase and sea phase.

During the harbour activities, both the navies will share their experiences on contemporary maritime security threats and challenges through various workshops, seminars and discussions while the sea phase to be conducted in the northern Arabian Sea from November 14 till 16 will encompass advance level naval operations such as warfare related exercises and search rescue operations to deal with variety of threats in the sea.

The first bilateral exercise Sea Guardian between the navies of Pakistan and China was held in 2014 and since then, it has regularly been conducted each year alternately in Pakistan and China.