Lyle Goldstein, director of Asia Engagement at the US think tank Defence Priorities, said the exercise could be about giving its forces more experience in open seas rather than preparing them for a specific scenario.
“I imagine that much of what is going on is familiarising commanders and crews with such conditions, including the ability to communicate, as well as the important capability to undertake stealth operations or, in other words, to get lost as much as possible in the big ocean for the purpose of misleading the enemy,” he said.
Goldstein suggested close encounters with another military’s craft might be viewed by China as enhancing its training.
He said Chinese forces “likely welcome any and all contacts with both Japanese and US ships, since such interactions can help them to develop an operational picture of the adversary and related doctrines they might confront in wartime”.
Read at South China Morning Post
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