综合一区欧美国产,99国产麻豆免费精品,九九精品黄色录像,亚洲激情青青草,久久亚洲熟妇熟,中文字幕av在线播放,国产一区二区卡,九九久久国产精品,久久精品视频免费

   

CHINA / National

China drops out of Asian marine drill
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-05-28 09:02

China is unlikely to take part in an Asian security drill scheduled to begin off Shanghai on Saturday, the Japan Coast Guard said.


Japan Coast Guard (JCG) special rescue unit members hoist an imaginary castaway to a JCG helicopter as a JCG fire-fighting vessel sprays water to a mock burning boat during their annual fleet review and exercise demonstration at Tokyo Bay in Tokyo May 27, 2006. [AP]

China, the United States, South Korea, Canada and Russia are all scheduled to take part in the drill. The event would have been the first time China had participated in such a joint exercise.

"We are still hoping that the Chinese will take part, but the prospects are not good," said one Japan Coast Guard official.

Japanese coast guard officials co-ordinating the event have stressed that the exercise is not connected to the U.S.-led Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) because no military forces are involved.

The drill scenario is based on a simulation of a suspicious ship being refused entry to the port of Shanghai and then being tracked by Chinese and other coast guard ships in turn.

The initial plan released by Japan's Coast Guard had referred to the ship being from a country suspected of exporting weapons of mass destruction. A revised scenario removed this reference and instead spoke of a "ship suspected of smuggling goods and people."

"This has absolutely nothing to do with weapons of mass destruction," the Japan Coast Guard official said. "It is a security drill, but somehow it seems to have been misunderstood."

Australia, Japan, Singapore, Thailand and New Zealand are the only Asia-Pacific region countries to publicly support the PSI, although the group says it has backing from more than 60 states.

China and South Korea have been reluctant to join the initiative, apparently to avoid offending North Korea, the nation with nuclear ambitions that are the subject of stalled six-party talks.

The U.S. Coast Guard ship Sequoia acting as the "suspicious" vessel failed to leave Shanghai as scheduled at 1 p.m., the Japan Coast Guard official said, adding that the reasons for the delay were not clear.

"We want to watch out for the Sequoia's departure. If the Chinese do not join at that point, then we will know for sure they are not taking part," he said.

The joint exercises will take place in the East China Sea, where Japan and China are in dispute over gas fields and sovereignty over a group of small islands.

The drill is likely to proceed even if China does not take part, the Japan Coast Guard said.

 
 

Related Stories
 
浦城县| 马鞍山市| 南皮县| 罗城| 新巴尔虎左旗| 林芝县| 大石桥市| 贵德县| 蓬安县| 邹城市| 巴彦县| 阜新| 宜昌市| 河北省| 思南县| 朝阳县| 开封县| 金沙县| 宜君县| 东辽县| 百色市| 溆浦县| 都江堰市| 东光县| 广平县| 鄂托克前旗| 聂拉木县| 东城区| 凉山| 都江堰市| 吉木萨尔县| 乌兰县| 青川县| 吉隆县| 雅江县| 栾川县| 盐边县| 浦城县| 凭祥市| 周至县| 精河县|