Japan-circling PLA Navy flotilla completes ‘routine drills,’ shows capabilities of national defense

Far sea exercises by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy are routine and display its capabilities, experts said on Thursday, after Japan hyped it spotted a PLA Navy flotilla led by a 10,000 ton-class large destroyer as the latter completed a full circumnavigation around the country.

The supply ship Hulunhu conducts a replenishment to the destroyers Lhasa and Anshan. Photo: PLA Navy

Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force spotted a PLA Navy flotilla consisting of the Type 055 large destroyer Lhasa, two Type 052D destroyers, a Type 054A frigate and a Type 903A comprehensive replenishment ship when the vessels sailed from the West Pacific through the Miyako Strait and waters between the Okinawa islands to the east of the island of Taiwan into the East China Sea on Tuesday, Japan’s Ministry of Defense Joint Staff said in a press release late on Wednesday. The move showed that the flotilla had sailed in a full circle around Japan clockwise during a voyage of more than half a month, according to a map with recorded tracks of the flotilla attached to the Japanese press release. The map showed that the Chinese flotilla started the voyage from the East China Sea on April 30, when it sailed through the Tsushima Strait into the Sea of Japan, made a transit through the Soya Strait into the West Pacific from May 5 to 6, then navigated in waters between some southern Japanese islands from May 11 to 13, before returning to the East China Sea on Tuesday.

With the PLA Navy’s increasing comprehensive combat capabilities thanks to the commissioning of advanced warships like the Type 055 large destroyer, China has made far sea exercises routine, said Chinese military expert and TV commentator Song Zhongping. Song told the Global Times that it is legitimate for Chinese vessels to sail through straits used for international navigation and open waters near Japan, and such moves are also normal because Japan is right on China’s doorstep.

Japan’s hyping of PLA Navy activities is based on a guilty conscience, as Japan is conspiring to break the post-WWII world order, resume the status of a “normal country” that has a military, and then return to a path of militarism, analysts said. At the upcoming G7 Summit to be held in Hiroshima this weekend, host Japan is seeking unity against China, media reported, while the Taiwan question looms large at the event.

Japan has been acting as a pawn of the US plan to militarily contain China, and has been claiming “a Taiwan emergency is a Japanese emergency,” although the Taiwan question is an internal affair of China, observers said. Song said that while the PLA Navy’s far sea exercises are routine, they serve to safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests. If Japan interferes in China’s internal affairs and provokes China over its core interests, China has what it takes to counter such acts, Song said. Source: Global Times