The exercises will be held Feb. 20-27 in Durban and Richards Bay in South Africa, China’s defense ministry announced today. China supplies, among other things, a destroyer, a frigate and a merchant ship for the exercises.
In addition to protecting maritime economic activities, the countries also want to promote defense and security cooperation among BRICS countries with joint exercises, the ministry said.
Warning
The drills could be a response to the US warning to China, which strongly condemns possible Chinese arms transfers to Russia. The warning was issued to Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi yesterday at the Munich security conference, where Blinken also addressed the situation surrounding the alleged spy balloon over the United States.
Wang reacted strongly today. “The United States must stand up and repair the damage to bilateral relations caused by the unwarranted use of force,” he said today.