China offers joint exercise proposal

China offers joint exercise proposal

MANILA (AFP): China offered on Tuesday to hold joint exercises
with the Philippines, one of its rivals to disputed South China
Sea islands, to control piracy and drugs in the area, Filipino
Foreign Secretary Domingo Siazon said.

The offer was relayed to him by visiting Chinese Agriculture
Minister Chen Yaobang, Siazon told reporters, adding Manila would
study the proposal.

The two countries are among six claimants to the Spratly
chain, which commands key oil tanker routes and is itself
believed to sit on vast oil and mineral deposits. The others are
Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam.

Chen, whose ministry is in charge of fisheries, wants the two
countries to explore the possibility of holding "joint exercises
with other claimant countries to control piracy in the region and
smuggling of drugs," Siazon said.