A flotilla of Chinese destroyers, including nearly half of its navy’s “large” destroyers, recently conducted live-fire drills in the contentious South China Sea.
China’s Southern Theater Command deployed a Type 052C guided-missile destroyer, the Haikou, along with three of the Chinese navy’s eight Type 055 (Renhai-class) destroyers, the Xianyang, Zunyi, and Yan’an, to the sea for six days of training, state media reported on Wednesday.
The six days of round-the-clock drills, which included air-to-sea strikes, anti-submarine tasks, and air defense, came amid simmering tensions in the oil- and gas-rich South China Sea, through which one-fifth of global trade is estimated to pass each year.
Displacing 12,000 tons and 590 feet in length, the Type 055s are faster, better-armed, and boast more-advanced sensor systems than older Type 052s. Dubbed “large destroyers” by Beijing, they are slightly bigger than the U.S. Navy’s Ticonderoga-class cruisers and serve as the main escorts of China’s aircraft carriers.
It was the first time that three Type 055s, also known as Renhai-class destroyers, had participated in an exercise together, according to one anonymous Chinese military expert cited by state-run media outlet the Global Times.
The outlet cited the expert as saying the exercise was “likely a routine one that is not targeted at any third party.”
“But, coming at a time when the Philippines has been engaged in continuous provocation on Chinese islands and reefs in the South China Sea under the instigation of the U.S., it in effect served as a deterrence,” the expert added.
The Philippine military did not immediately respond to a written request for comment.
China’s territorial claims, which encompass nearly all of the waterway, overlap with those of Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Taiwan, and the Philippines.
It is unclear where in the sea China held the naval drills.
The administration of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has been pushing back against China‘s claims within the Southeast Asian country’s internationally recognized exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
Standoffs between the U.S. ally and China’s coast guard near hotspots within the EEZ have resulted in damage to Philippine vessels and several Philippine injuries. Beijing has accused its neighbor of illegally intruding on its territory and of acting as a pawn in U.S. efforts to contain China.
Gilbert Teodoro, Philippine defense chief, recently told the U.K. newspaper Financial Times that China’s increasingly assertive posture in nearby waters is “an existential issue for us.”
President Joe Biden has stressed Washington’s Mutual Defense Treaty with Manila is “ironclad.”
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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