Report: China's Recent South China Sea Drill 'Largest'

China's armed forces have conducted their largest live fire exercise yet in the South China Sea, according to state media Monday. 



The China Daily reported that more than 100 naval vessels, dozens of aircraft and several electronic warfare units took part in last week's drill, citing a People's Liberation Army (PLA) Daily report.



Tuesday's drill, which were joined by several battalions from the artillery corps tasked with operating strategic and cruise missiles, saw the firing of dozens of missiles and torpedoes as well as thousands of cannon shells and bombs.



It came at a time when other countries with overlapping claims in the South China Sea – such as the Philippines -- have been criticizing Chinese efforts in the seawaters as "aggressive".



China claims almost the whole of the potentially oil and mineral-rich sea, but several other Asian nations have also laid claim.



An unnamed navy training department officer cited by the PLA Daily on Monday said the drill, the largest held by the navy, tested several defense maneuvers.



It also "ed South Sea Fleet commanders as saying that the exercise involving numerous threat scenarios was "as sophisticated as an actual operation, effectively examining the real performance of the navy's new weapons and improving our capability for joint operation."



A senior researcher at the PLA Naval Military Studies Research Institute told the China Daily that the exercise showed the strides in the navy's anti-submarine capability and its countermeasures against supersonic anti-ship missiles.



"Such an exercise combines powers from the navy, the air force and the missile units, and would enable the navy to gain realistic experience of modern maritime warfare," Zhang Junshe said.



Navy spokesperson Senior Captain Liang Yang has insisted that they will continue to conduct similar drills, which he underlined are in accord with international laws and practices. - Pekin