From Shipping Times: Royal Navy’s Flag Ship HMS Ark Royal in
the company of the Chinese Frigate Saigon, off the Isle of Wight.
“China’s new security concept is being realized through joint military exercises with foreign armed forces” is the title of a January 8 report by the China News Service (CNS), the second largest news agency in China behind Xinhua. The article has been making the rounds in Chinese cyberspace, including the website of the official Xinhua news agency. According to the report, China participated in eight military exercises and two training drills with foreign armed forces in 2007. Those exercises were reportedly designed to prepare for terrorist attacks, while the six maritime drills this past year were characterized as “search and rescue” in nature. First advocated by Beijing in the late 1990s, the “new security concept” is to “provide the post-Cold War world with a new security pattern.” And as the title of the January 8 report indicates, participation in joint military exercises is one way through which China is to sketch out this new security pattern. The CNS report quoted Lieutenant General Ma Xiaotian, deputy chief of general staff of the People’s Liberation Army, as saying that these joint exercises are not to lead China into any military alliance, nor do they pose a threat to any other country. Worth noting, however, is their increased frequency. In the years from 2002 to 2006, China took part in a total of only 16 joint military drills. And yet, as the report documents, in 2007 alone there were 10. In fact, the year 2007 is referred to in the Chinese media as “the year of military exercises.” Indeed, 2007 witnessed participation in overseas joint drills by all branches of the Chinese military, as well as by the People’s Armed Police (PAP), whose main mission is internal security. A chronological rundown of these drills is presented in this year-end review in China Daily, which notes that joint exercises in 2007 were marked by several “firsts.” The “Peace-07” exercise in March, for example, was the first time that the Chinese navy joined a multi-national maritime military exercise. It was also the first time its vessels participated in drills overseas without an accompanying supply ship, and the first time they used live ammunition overseas. Among other “firsts”: In September, the PAP’s “Snow Leopard Unit” conducted an anti-terrorist drill with Russian forces near Moscow. It was the first time the PAP had taken part in such an exercise on foreign soil. In October, China held its first maritime joint exercises with Australia and New Zealand. During this drill, according to the China Daily article, “a certain type” of Chinese search-and-rescue helicopter made its debut. The Chinese navy also conducted drills with the navies of Russia, Great Britain, Spain, and France during an 87-day European tour that began on July 24. Especially noteworthy was the September joint exercise with the British aircraft carrier Ark Royal. It was the first time the Chinese navy had held a joint exercise with an aircraft carrier and also its first exercise in the Atlantic.
