China’s navy has conducted a routine combat drill in waters off the Hainan and Xisha Islands. The Nanhai Fleet, as well as forces from the Beihai and Donghai fleets, have taken part in the annual exercise in the South China Sea.

The drills come on the heels of the announcement  by the United States and South Korea to deploy a THAAD missile defense system in South Korea.

• Ships from China’s northern, eastern and southern fleets took part in the drills, according to Chinese news agency Xinhua called an “annual routine military exercise that covered all sorts of combat platforms, including the air arm, submarine, surface vessel and coastal defense force.”
• The drill covers a variety of combat platforms, including surface vessels and the coastal defense force. It focuses on air control operations, sea battles and anti-submarine warfare.
•  The drill aims to enhance the combat capacity of the navy with a focus on high-tech communication.
• China claims nearly all the South China Sea, but its claims overlap in part with those of Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.

India and china relations

• India-china relations, also called Sino-Indian relations or Indo-China relations, refers to the bilateral relationship between the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of India.
• China and India are the two most populous countries and fastest growing major economies in the world.
• The Silk Road not only served as a major trade route between India and China, but is also credited for facilitating the spread of Buddhism from India to East Asia.
• Relations between contemporary China and India have been characterised by border disputes, resulting in three military conflicts the Sino-Indian War of 1962, the Chola incident in 1967, and the 1987 Sino-Indian skirmish. However, since the late 1980s, both countries have successfully rebuilt diplomatic and economic ties.
• In 2008, China became India’s largest trading partner and the two countries have also extended their strategic and military relations.
• In June 2012, China stated its position that “Sino-Indian ties” could be the most “important bilateral partnership of the century”.