BEIJING - China will hold live-fire naval exercises in the YellowSea in the coming days, state media reported Aug. 29, after voicingopposition to similar war games to be staged there by the United Statesand South Korea.
The Beihai fleet of the People's Liberation Army Navy will conduct a"live ammunition drill" from Sept. 1 to Sept. 4 off the coast ofeastern China's Qingdao city, Xinhua news agency reported.
"This is an annual routine training, mainly involving theshooting of shipboard artillery," said the report, citing China'sdefense ministry.
The United States and South Korea are planninga new round of joint drills in the Yellow Sea in September in anothershow of force against North Korea following the sinking of a SouthKorean warship in March.
Any military drills involving the UnitedStates in the Yellow Sea are a sensitive issue because of the area'sproximity to China, and the disputed maritime boundary between Southand North Korea.
China has bristled at the idea of a U.S.aircraft carrier group patrolling waters near its coast, although theU.S. military has said the planned anti-submarine exercise in Septemberwould not involve a carrier.
"This would be a fresh provocationfollowing a series of joint U.S.-[South Korean] activities that havecaused tensions in East Asia," Chinese Rear Adm. Yang Yi said in anAug. 13 commentary in the China Daily.
"Offending Chinese peopleis not in the fundamental interest of the U.S. ... Any activity aimedat pushing a country with a 1.3-billion populace with enormouspotential would be inadvisable."
The United States and SouthKorea have staged massive joint naval and air exercises in the nearbySea of Japan that were opposed by Beijing.
The drills followedthe sinking of the corvette Cheonan in March, which Seoul and itsallies say was caused by a North Korean torpedo attack.
China isNorth Korea's closest ally and trade partner, and Beijing has refusedto join in international condemnation of Pyongyang for the incident.
Chinastaged naval, air and artillery exercises late last month, although itwas not clear if the drills had been pre-planned or were in response tothe U.S.-South Korea exercises.
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