China, US navies hold exercises

BEIJING, Nov 19 (Reuters) The US and Chinese navies held joint search-and-rescue exercises today, the latest step aimed at enhancing cooperation between the mistrustful military powers.

Missile-equipped destroyers from both countries held the exercise in the South China Sea after jointly planning the manoeuvres this week, a system the US Pacific Fleet commander said improved understanding and communication.

''Before ships go to sea and conduct the exercise, the people come together and plan the exercise,'' Admiral Gary Roughead told reporters earlier this week.

''And that, in and of itself, is a very, very important dimension of the type of relationship that navies have. Because it's when people come together and begin to plan, they begin to learn how each other does certain tasks and functions (and) they develop relationships,'' he said.

Military ties between the United States and China broke off in 2001 after a Chinese fighter jet and a US surveillance plane collided, killing the Chinese pilot and forcing the US crew to land in China, where they were held for 11 days.

In the past year, the two have been seeking to upgrade ties, but the potential for friction was highlighted again by an uncomfortably close encounter between a US warship and a Chinese submarine in the Pacific last month.

Roughead has said that incident, between the submarine and the USS Kitty Hawk near the Japanese island of Okinawa, showed the need for increased transparency and communication between the two countries' forces.

In today's exercise, the navies conducted communications, fleet formation changes and search-and-rescue exercises, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

It followed joint exercises off Hawaii in September, during which members of the Chinese navy also visited US naval bases and held barbecues with the US navy.

Washington has long complained of a lack of transparency in China's military modernisation and has been pressing Beijing to reciprocate by giving US forces more access to Chinese military sites.

It also fears that China's growing military might could alter the balance of power in the region, with consequences for Taiwan, the self-governed island China claims as its own and has said it would attack if Taiwan formally declares independence.

REUTERS SSC ND1238