China set to launch military exercises on Dongshan island
( 2001-08-21 12:04 ) (7 )

military

China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) will launch its largest ever integrated military exercises around Dongshan island, off the east coast of China on Wednesday, a report said.

Top military leaders of the central military commission will arrive in Dongshan, near Fujian province, to watch the war games, Wen Wei Po reported, quoting unnamed sources.

Fishing boats and other vessels have been given advance notice to stay out of the region and return to port.

The military exercises, which have already lasted four months, are the largest the PLA has ever conducted in terms of scale, duration, the total number of personnel involved and the advanced weaponry used. Some 100,000 troops have reportedly been involved.

The PLA troops were prepared for any "possible interference", the report added.

The report comes after the United States said two of its aircraft carriers had conducted an exercise in the South China Sea last Friday.

The USS Constellation and USS Carl Vinson conducted a "rare" one-day exercise between two US aircraft carriers, which also involved three submarines, 150 aircraft and more than 15,000 personnel, according to the US 7th Fleet website.

In a previous crisis in 1996 when China fired test missiles into the Taiwan Strait, Washington sent two battle carrier groups to waters off the island.

The USS Constellation arrived in Hong Kong for a six-day port call on Monday just days after China refused permission to allow a US military spy plane to land in the territory.

Foreign ministry said "related factors" were taken into consideration while rejecting the request for a landing in Hong Kong by the P-3C Orion long-range reconnaissance and anti-submarine aircraft.

The US P-3C is similar to the US spy plane involved in bumping into a Chinese fighter jet over the South China Sea on April 1.

The collision killed the Chinese pilot and soured Sino-US relations as the two nations bickered over who was responsible for the incident.