6 countries to simulate Asian naval security drill

Tokyo, May 26: Coastguards from the United States, Japan, China, South Korea, Canada and Russia will hold a joint maritime exercise for six days from tomorrow chasing a ship suspected of carrying weapons of mass destruction.

Officials said this week it would be the first time China had taken part in such a joint exercise at sea.

The operations are based on a scenario that the ship with the suspicious freight, scheduled to make a port call in Shanghai, rejects Chinese requests to give details of its cargo, the organisers said.

The Chinese turn the ship away and follow it out to sea.

Coastguards from South Korea, Japan and Russia join the chase, while a US coastguard vessel will act as the suspect ship.

The Japanese Coastguard plans to start chasing the suspect ship on Monday and inspect it in Japanese waters on Tuesday.

Japanese Coastguard officials stressed that the joint exercises were different from the US-led Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) because no military forces were involved.

''The exercises are aimed at ensuring maritime security and preventing terrorism,'' said a Japanese Coastguard official.

In October 2004, Japan hosted the US-led PSI, Asia's first such naval exercise, in waters near North Korea.

Australia, Japan, Singapore, Thailand and New Zealand are the only Asia-Pacific region countries to publicly support the PSI, although the group says it has backing from more than 60 states.

China and South Korea have been reluctant to join the initiative, apparently to avoid offending North Korea -- the reclusive communist state with nuclear ambitions that are the subject of stalled six-party talks joining China, the two Koreas, Japan, Russia and the United States.

The joint exercises will take place in the East China Sea where Japan and China are in dispute over gas fields and sovereignty over a group of small islands.

Reuters