Today, the Chinese Ministry of National Defense announced its plan to hold a joint naval exercise with Pakistan in the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean in November. According to Chinese state-owned media ENCS, ‘Sea Guardians III’ will focus on “drills including formation movement, VBSS (visit, board, search and seizure), helicopter cross-deck landing, search and rescue, anti-submarine operation and main gun shooting.
Professional exchanges and mutual visits will also be conducted.” The exercise seeks “to deepen the all-weather strategic cooperative partnership and traditional friendship between the two countries, and enhance realistic combat training of both” said Chinese Colonel Wu Qian, with the overarching goal of the exercise being establishing a joint response procedure to maritime security threats.
