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New US-ASEAN Naval Drills a 'Balancing Act' with Beijing

Zsombor Peter

   BANGKOK - The United States and all 10 member states of the Association
   of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will for the first time conduct
   joint maritime drills near the disputed South China Sea.

   The drills are expected to last five days, beginning September 2.

   Thailand, co-hosting the exercise as this year's chair of ASEAN, denies
   that the drills aim in any measure to challenge China's mounting
   efforts to dominate the hotly contested waters. "Nothing to do with
   China," Thaksaphon Namhom, head of operations and intelligence for the
   Royal Thai Navy's patrol squadron, told VOA.

   But by cutting the waters between southern Vietnam and the Malacca
   Strait, a critical chokepoint for international trade between the
   Indian and Pacific oceans, they will be sending Beijing a clear message
   that ASEAN can partner with whomever it pleases, analysts say. And it
   just might cool rising tension in the sea, some add, by helping keep
   China's ambitions in check.

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