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US-JAPAN-SKOREA-CHINA-NAVY-MILITARY
US, Japan, S. Korea start ‘first-of-its-kind’ naval drill
TOKYO, May 23, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – The United States, Japan, South Korea and
Australia have kicked off “first-of-its-kind” naval drills near Guam, the US
Navy said Thursday, amid mounting tensions with China and North Korea.
The “Pacific Vanguard” drill brings together more than 3,000 sailors from
the four countries to “sharpen skills and strengthen practical cooperation at
sea,” the US Seventh Fleet said in a statement.
The drills will focus on “live fire exercises, defensive counter-air
operations, anti-submarine warfare, and replenishment at sea,” added the
statement.
Australia has contributed two frigates to the exercise, Japan two
destroyers and South Korea one destroyer. The USS Blue Ridge, the Seventh
Fleet’s flagship, will lead the operation from the US side.
With trade tensions growing between Washington and Beijing, China earlier
this week denounced a US warship sail-by near disputed islands in the South
China Sea.
And Guam, home to more than 160,000 people, was at the centre of nuclear
tensions between Washington and Pyongyang in 2017, with North Korea
threatening to hit the US territory with “enveloping fire”.
BSS/AFP/MSY/1235 hrs