Naval forces from China, Iran, and Russia are staging joint naval drills in the Gulf of Oman this week, China’s Defense Ministry said Tuesday. Other nations are also taking part in the “Security Bond-2023” drills, the ministry said without providing details. Iran, Pakistan, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates all have a coastline along the waterbody lying at the mouth of the strategic Persian Gulf.
This exercise will help deepen practical cooperation between the participating countries’ navies and inject positive energy into regional peace and stability.”
the ministry statement said.
The drills planned for Wednesday through Sunday come amid boosted anxieties between the United States and China over a range of matters, including China’s denial to condemn Russia over its invasion of Ukraine and continuing help for the Russian economy.
The U.S. and its allies have denounced the invasion, charged punishing economic sanctions on Russia, and provided Ukraine with defensive arms. Iran and the U.S. have been rivals since the founding of the Islamic Republic in 1979 and the taking of U.S. diplomats as hostages.
China has sent the guided missile destroyer Nanning to take part in the drills centered on search and rescue at sea and other non-combat missions. China holds its only foreign military base, complete with a navy pier, in the Horn of Africa country of Djibouti, located just across the Gulf of Oman.
The three countries held similar drills last year and in 2019, underscoring China’s growing military and political links with nations that have been largely shunned by the U.S. and its partners.
Last week on Friday, China hosted discussions between Iran and Saudi Arabia that resulted in a deal between them to restore full diplomatic ties after seven years of tensions. While the U.S. and Saudi Arabia have long-standing troops and political relations, ties have frayed over the 2018 killing of U.S.-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a criticizer of the kingdom’s leadership, and cuts in production by the OPEC+ oil cartel that the administration said was assisting Russia.
China’s hosting of the Iran-Saudi addresses placed it in the exceptional position of negotiator in regional disputes, one that China appears to be keen to capitalize on under the rubric of President Xi Jinping’s “Global Security Initiative.”
The country’s Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa Affairs Xue Bing on Tuesday “further affirmed China’s willingness to perform with countries in the region to contribute to calm regional development and build a closer China-Africa community with a shared future by executing the outlook,” the official Xinhua News Agency quoted him as saying on a visit to Ethiopia.
