Pak, China Naval exercises continue in N Arabian Sea

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan and China joint naval exercises which are underway in the North Arabian Sea, will be culminated mid-week as the move will boost cooperation, build a safe maritime environment and enhance the two navies' capability to deal with maritime terrorism and crime together. The nine-day exercise is taking place amid major developments in the region especially in neighbouring waters. The monitoring reports show extremely satisfying results.

According to Chinese media reports the exercise, dubbed "Sea Guardians-2020," started in the port city of Karachi and being held in the North Arabian Sea until Tuesday, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Daily reported. The Chinese troops mainly come from the PLA Southern Theater Command Navy, including guided missile destroyer Yinchuan, guided missile frigate Yuncheng, comprehensive supplement ship Weishanhu, submarine rescue ship Liugongdao and two vessel-based helicopters.

Pakistan will have two frigates, two missile boats, a fixed-wing anti-submarine aircraft and two vessel-based helicopters in the drills. They are conducting joint cruising, air defence, maritime interception, anti-submarine and live-fire shooting exercises at sea.

The goal of the Sea Guardians-2020 drills is to boost the two countries' military cooperation, enhance their all-weather strategic cooperative partnership, build a safe maritime environment and enhance the two navies' capability to deal with maritime terrorism and crime together, the PLA Daily report said. This joint exercise is not related to regional affairs and is not aimed at any third party, the PLA Daily added.

It is a part of the annual cooperation plan between the Pakistani and Chinese military forces, said Ren Guoqiang, a defence ministry spokesperson, at a routine press conference, when announcing the exercise.