China and Pakistan on Sunday began their Sea Guardians-2′ drills off the Shanghai coast. The drill ended on Thursday. The naval exercise between the two all weather-friends focused on improving joint response towards maritime security threats and consolidating the “Strategic Partnership between Pakistan and China”.
The exercise comprised of two phases – port planning and maritime exercise. During the Port planning phase, navies of China and Pakistan conducted onshore activities like professional expertise exchanges & operational planning. The Maritime exercise phase saw training courses such as strikes against maritime targets, joint anti-submarine warfare, tactical manoeuvring, and joint support for damaged vessels.
The two sides were led by Rear Admiral Liu Zhigang of PLA Navy and Commodore Rashid Mehmood Sheikh of Pakistan’s Navy respectively. Pakistan was represented by its newest and highly advanced guided-missile frigate PNS Taimur which is one of the four Types 054 A/P frigates, that is being built by China for the Pakistan Navy. China was represented by Guided-missile frigates Xiangtan (531), Comprehensive supply ship Qiandaohu (886), Shuozhou (610), one submarine, two fighter jets, one early warning aircraft and one helicopter.
Sea Guardian: A Threat To India?
According to sources, Sea Guardian is another facet of Sino-Pakistani cooperation aimed at protecting the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) sea routes, and is a direct retaliation to India’s Malabar Exercise, which has the US, Japan and Australia as other participants and is aimed at containing China.
China is developing Pakistan’s Gwadar port in the Arabian Sea, giving connectivity with its Xinjiang province by land as part of the $60 billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). China is looking to encircle India with its String of Pearls policy and modernisation of the Pakistan Navy in conjunction with the Chinese policy of bagging ports near India, is a direct challenge to India’s integrity.
