PLA Navy maritime drills are routine

Maritime operations and drills carried out by People's Liberation Army Navy (PLA Navy) vessels have been normalized step by step, the spokesman for China's Ministry of Defense said Tuesday. At a regular ministry briefing on Thursday, spokesman Geng Yansheng criticized Japanese media reports about the PLA Navy's activities as "extremely suspicious" and "worried about troubles created by their own imagination," while pointing to some countries that have regarded the normal maneuvers of the Chinese navy as abnormal. Geng said that in recent years, Chinese fleets have passed through the Miyako Strait for drills in the Western Pacific, which is normal and conforms to relevant international laws and practices. At the briefing, some reporters asked about China's North Sea Fleet passing through the Miyako Strait to conduct drills in the Western Pacific, noting that Japan's Ministry of Defense has published photos of the PLA Navy's activities. Meanwhile, some Japanese have insisted that the PLA Navy's offshore drills have created a "sense of vigilance" among some other countries.