（Yu-Cheng Chen, Associated Professor of the Graduate Institute of China Military Affairs Studies at Fu Hsing Kang College, National Defense University）
The Chinese, Russian and Iranian navies held the Maritime Security Belt 2024 exercise near the Gulf of Oman from March 11 to 15, marking their fourth trilateral joint maritime exercise. The previous three drills were conducted in 2019, 2022, and 2023. Maritime Security Belt 2024 mainly featured anti-piracy and search and rescue courses and aimed to jointly build peace and security. Similar to the Chinese media coverage of past exercises, Chinese officers were reported saying that the exercise will help forge a maritime community with a shared future. Below are a few observations.
First, the timing and location of the exercise have political implications.Against the backdrop of the unprecedented presence of the U.S. and Western navies in the Middle East, the drills were conducted in the Gulf of Oman and the northern Indian Ocean, covering more than 17,000 square kilometers of waters. The area is an important waterway near the Persian Gulf at the entrance of the Strait of Hormuz and an important route for global oil trade. The trilateral joint exercise is in fact linked to geopolitical competition in the region, particularly as the Israel-Hamas conflict continues in the Gaza Strip, which has led to attacks on vessels in the Red Sea by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels. This highlights that the military strategic cooperation between China, Russia and Iran is now competing with Western countries. In particular, Pakistan, Kazakhstan and other countries were invited to observe the exercise for the first time, increasing the complexity of geopolitical competition.
Second, China's participation in the exercise is not the same compared with past drills. More than ten vessels participated in the exercise, including ships from the Pacific Fleet of the Russian Navy and the 45th China Naval Escort Task Force. The People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) ships participating in the exercise included Type-052D guided missile destroyer Urumqi, Type-054A guided missile frigate Linyi and Type-093A comprehensive replenishment ship Dongpinghu. These warships just completed escort missions in the Gulf of Aden in early March. In fact, scenarios of the exercise showed that the drills mainly focused on improving trade security, fighting maritime piracy and strengthening coordination of humanitarian and rescue missions. The at-sea phase of the exercise, which took place from March 12 to 13, included live firing against surface targets and simulating armed rescue of hijacked merchant ships. Navies from the three countries formed mixed task forces.
What differs is that the 2024 exercise did not include counter-terrorism drills like previous ones. This presumably was to avoid concerns about the PLAN’s activities in the nearby Red Sea area. It is worth noticing that the spokesperson of the Chinese Ministry of National Defense said at a press conference in February that “the deployment of the Chinese naval fleet to the Gulf of Aden and Somali waters is “a routine escort operation and is unrelated to the current regional situation.” This shows that China intends to pursue regional peace and stability but does not want to form a multilateral naval alliance in the Red Sea with Western countries. Beijing thinks that its comprehensive interests can only be served by strategic cooperation with Russia and Iran. An article examining the PLA’s military theory stresses that the military must be subordinated to politics and must persist in thinking about and addressing military issues from a political perspective. Taking into account the regional situation, China’s overall strategic interests would be inconsistent with those of Russia and Iran if anti-terrorism scenarios had been included in the exercise or if China joins a multilateral naval alliance in the Red Sea. This is why the PLA was particularly cautious about the content and position of the Maritime Security Belt 2024 exercise.
Although the Maritime Security Belt 2024 is regarded as an exercise that demonstrates military cooperation between China, Russia and Iran, it also reveals the PLA’s constraints during the process of the drills. Cancelling antiterrorism drills reflects the Chinese military's unwillingness to side with the United States and the Western camp based on its prudent consideration of the overall regional security situation. On the whole, China’s participation in the exercise has more to do with geopolitical wrestling. Regional competition will become more complicated.
（Excerpt translated to English by Cindy Li）
