China's Last-Minute Naval Exercises

Without bothering to schedule them on any sort of calendar, China is holding six days of drills in the South China Sea.

The Chinese Navy will hold six-day military drills in the South China Sea from Wednesday, allegedly in response to planned U.S.-South Korean exercises in the Yellow Sea, local media reported on Tuesday.

A statement from the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) was quoted by media reports as saying that all vessels except those involved in the drills would be banned from entering the waters off China's eastern Zhejiang province during the drills.

China Daily said that, although a Chinese defense official has said the drills are routine, some analysts believe they are directly linked to the U.S.-South Korean exercises, due to start in July, which include the deployment of a U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.

Oh, but it turns out, they aren't just any exercises... they're live-fire exercises.

China will kick off six days of live-fire military exercises off its eastern coast later this week, state press reported Tuesday, amid plans for US-South Korean war games in the nearby Yellow Sea.

The People's Liberation Army has banned all vessels from entering a large area of open water off its eastern coast from Wednesday through July 5 when the naval exercises will take place, the China Daily reported.

And are these exercises aimed as a response to the joint US-SK maneuvers? Naaaahhhh... of course not.

The Chinese military denied media reports that an artillery drill in the East China Sea was a rebuke of a planned military exercise between South Korea and the United States.

By: Brant