AFP/Islamabad

 

The United States and China began naval drills in the Arabian Sea with Pakistan and other countries yesterday, the Pakistani navy said, in a show of strength against terrorism and piracy.

The AMAN-13 exercise involves ships from 13 countries and observers from 20 others and comes two weeks after China took control of a strategic Pakistani Arabian Sea port from Singapore’s PSA International.

The five-day exercise, which began earlier this week with meetings and manoeuvres in port, will end today and is aimed at “information sharing, mutual understanding and identifying areas of common interest”, the navy said.

The manoeuvres — the fourth since 2007 – will also help develop and practise response tactics, techniques and procedures as well as improving co-operation between navies, the statement said.

One of the main objectives is to “display united resolve against terrorism and crimes in maritime domain”, it said.

“All the nations participating in the AMAN have a common objective of ensuring peace and stability in the maritime arena to provide freedom of navigation and uninterrupted flow of trade,” the statement said.

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