China staged a live-firing landing exercise with about 5,000 Army, Navy, and Air Force troops in Bohai Bay near North Korea on Sunday night, the official Chinanews website reported Monday.
Photos showed tanks from a landing ship running on the beach, self-propelled guns firing shells, soldiers loading a landing boat and flares exploding above a fleet of ships.
Chinese soldiers fire shells during a night landing drill in Bohai Bay on Sunday (top); Chinese soldiers load a landing boat onto a warship during a night landing drill in Bohai Bay on Sunday. /Chinanews.com
The website said the exercise focused on reconnaissance, warning, maritime transport, firepower, and landing.
Chinese soldiers fire shells during a night landing drill in Bohai Bay on Sunday (top); Chinese soldiers load a landing boat onto a warship during a night landing drill in Bohai Bay on Sunday. /Chinanews.comThe live shell firing exercise continues until Wednesday, the website added, and ships are banned from the area for the duration.
It is rare for China to stage a military exercise under North Korea’s nose and make it public immediately. A diplomatic source in Beijing speculated that the drill aims to prepare for any serious instability in the North.
Others guess that it was a show of force aimed chiefly at Japan in the conflict over the Diaoyu or Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea.
englishnews@chosun.com / Nov. 19, 2013 09:45 KST
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