Navies comb South China Sea in mine-sweeping exercise
Navies comb South China Sea in mine-sweeping exercise
SINGAPORE (AFP): Navies from 16 mainly Asia-Pacific countries
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, detecting their first dummy mine in hours, 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.
Captain Ralph Young, commander of a U.S. Navy mine
countermeasure squadron, said the simultaneous deployment of
helicopters, anti-mine ships and divers enabled forces to cover
large areas quickly.
The U.S. navy is the only force to deploy mine-sweeping
helicopters in the exercise.
Captain 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.
Young said the strong presence of the U.S. Navy "underscores
the United States' commitment to regional cooperation and
stability in Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific."
Of the challenges mobilizing a multinational team, he said:
"Operations have been smoother than I would have thought. I had
expected language and communication barriers but so far, things
have been going very well."
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.