Japan’s biggest warship, the Kaga helicopter carrier, on Wednesday joined naval drills with Britain’s HMS Argyll in the Indian Ocean as the frigate headed toward the contested South China Sea and East Asia.
“We have traditional ties with the British navy and we are both close US allies, and these drills are an opportunity for us to strengthen cooperation,” Kenji Sakaguchi, Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force commander of the Kaga group’s four helicopters said on the hangar deck.
The more frequent presence of the Royal Navy in a region is a chance for the two navies to train more closely in the future, he said.
Photo: Reuters
The Argyll, Kaga and its destroyer escort, the Inazuma, practiced formations on calm seas in the Indian Ocean close to commercial sea lanes plied by container vessels and oil tankers. Three helicopters from the Japanese carrier hovered above, monitoring the drill.
The Argyll’s arrival in the region came after British amphibious assault ship the HMS Albion last month challenged Beijing’s territorial claims in the South China Sea on its way to Vietnam from Japan by sailing close to Chinese bases in the Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島) in a freedom of navigation operation.
China dispatched a warship and helicopters to counter the British presence and said that similar actions in the future could endanger talks for a possible trade deal that Britain is seeking as it prepares to leave the EU.
Japan has yet to conduct such an operation in the South China Sea.
However, in a rare public announcement this month, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said that one of its submarines had carried out a naval exercise in the disputed waterway with two Japanese destroyers and the Kaga, which is on a two-month deployment in the Indo-Pacific region.
After crossing the South China Sea, the Argyll is to operate in waters around Japan, including a stint monitoring sanctions imposed on North Korea by the UN to force it to abandon nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, said a British government source, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
The Argyll is the third Royal Navy ship in Asia’s waters this year following the tour of the Albion and another frigate.
“Normally we hold discussion with other countries before joint drills, but with the British there is no need to, so they are easy to work with,” said Tatsuhiko Mizuno, an operation planning officer for the Kaga group.
In related news, China yesterday criticized the US for flying B-52 bombers in the vicinity of the South China Sea and demanded that Washington take steps to improve their military relationship.
Chinese Ministry of National Defense spokesman Ren Guoqiang (任國強), at a regular monthly briefing, said that Beijing is resolutely opposed to US military aircraft taking provocative actions in the South China Sea.
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