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A Sino-US joint military exercise to be held Sunday off the southern coast of China is a sign of growing transparency and cooperation between the two navies, U.S. Pacific Fleet commander Adm. Gary Roughead said Wednesday.
A search and rescue exercise involving two U.S. amphibious vessels, the Juneau and Fitzgerald, will be held off the coast of Zhanjiang, a southwestern coastal city at southern China's Guangdong Province, to enhance coordinated disaster response and regional security.
“This is an important day for our navies,” Roughead said at a news conference following Juneau's arrival. “Seeing Juneau here, flanked by the People's Liberation Army navy ships on the pier, is a symbol of what we hope will become a growing transparency between our two navies.”
The military exercise will simulate the procedures for assisting a vessel in distress at sea. The exercise is the second phase of a two-phase exercise. The first phase was conducted in September off the U.S. west coast between the Chinese destroyer Qingdao and the U.S. destroyer Shoup, U.S. navy's website said.
“The exercise holds great value to the cooperation we are building,” said Roughead. “The procedures that were worked out in the first phase will again be used here, further bringing our two navies closer together.”
