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China denies military exercise aimed at U.S.

Date: Friday, 02-July-2010

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Reporting by Chris Buckley; Editing by Paul Tait
Reuters
June 29, 2010

BEIJING -- China denied on Tuesday media reportsthat an artillery drill in the East China Sea wasin response to a planned military exercisebetween South Korea and the United States.

The 6-day, live ammunition exercise starting onWednesday in the East China Sea off China's coastwas seen by some analysts as a "response to a(planned) joint exercise between the UnitedStates and Republic of Korea navies in the YellowSea," said the China Daily, the country's official English-language newspaper.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Qin Gang,said there was no such link and a Chinesemilitary officer said the timing was coincidental.

"This is a regular military exercise," thespokesman Qin told a regular news conference."This is not related to the situation on the Korean Peninsula."

Li Daguang, a professor at China's NationalDefense University and a People's Liberation Army(PLA) officer, said the exercise was "not aimedat the U.S.-South Korea joint exercise."

"The PLA artillery exercise in the East China Seaand the joint U.S.-South Korea exercise in theYellow Sea are a complete coincidence," Li toldthe Wen Wei Po, a Hong Kong newspaper under mainland control.

"The outside world shouldn't read anything into this."

The Yellow Sea lies to the north of the EastChina Sea and the areas of the two exercises would not overlap.

China's Foreign Ministry said last week it wasconcerned about reports a U.S. aircraft carriermay join the anti-submarine exercise with SouthKorea following a standoff with North Korea overthe sinking of a warship from the South.

"Though the Chinese government did not sayanything about the drill, anybody with commonsense on military strategy will bet that they arerelated," one expert on China-U.S. relations, ShiYinhong of Renmin University in Beijing, told the China Daily.

The joint exercise that had been expected thismonth will most likely take place in July,although a date has yet to be set, the Pentagon said on Monday.

Washington has not said officially whether anaircraft carrier would participate, as some newsreports citing Pentagon sources have suggested.

Beijing has been angered by U.S. navy shipsengaging in surveillance in waters close to China's southern coast.

Earlier this year, Beijing curtailed contactswith the Pentagon over continued U.S. arms salesto Taiwan, the self-ruled island that China claims as its own territory.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said thismonth China's decision to break offmilitary-to-military contacts could undercut regional stability.

Gates said the PLA was the main obstruction inthe way of improved relations and suggested itsposition was at odds with that of the country's political leadership.