16 navies comb S. China Sea

16 navies comb S. China Sea

SINGAPORE (AFP): Navies from 16 mainly Asia-Pacific countries, including Indonesia, combed the South China Sea on Monday in a mine-sweeping exercise aimed at improving multinational efforts to keep the region's vital shipping lanes safe.

Anti-mine helicopters, hunter ships and specially trained divers carried out the exercises off the Indonesian island of Bintan in Riau, military officials said.

The 12-day inaugural Western Pacific Mine Countermeasure Exercise and First Western Pacific Diving Exercise, the largest mine countermeasures exercise to be conducted in the region, opened last week.

But Monday was the first time that actual anti-mine operations were carried out as the forces spent last week conducting unit- level training.

Fifteen ships and 1,500 personnel from Australia, Canada, China, France, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam are participating.

Capt. Charles Smith, commanding officer of a U.S. command and control ship, the USS Inchon, said it was rare for 16 nations to work together in such a way.

"When was the last time you saw something like that?" he asked reporters.

Smith said it was important to guard the safety of regional waterways as more than half of the world's shipping tonnage passes through the Malacca Straits, Singapore Straits and the South China Sea.