Warships from a dozen of countries Monday began their second phase of the two-week-long ‘AMAN 09’ military exercise at the Arabia Sea near Karachi.
From March 9 to 12, some 20 warships will carry out exercises like going past mines, anti-terror operations, shooting floating objects, search and rescue, night encounter exercise, and cross deck landings by helicopter, according to sources close to ‘AMAN 09’, which is Urdu meaning Peace.
Senior Captain Mei Wen and Commander Li Ping of China's navy " Guangzhou" destroyer told Xinhua that China had sent its naval ship and special forces to the ‘AMAN 09’ exercise only to show its goodwill for peace and its responsibility to maintain world peace and stability as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. They said that China had adhered to its policy of peaceful development and the Chinese navy wished to broaden exchanges and cooperation with other navies.
This is the second exercise in the AMAN series. The slogan of the exercise is "Together for Peace".
The first series of AMAN exercises were held in March 2007 with the participation of 14 ships from Bangladesh, China, France, Italy, Malaysia, the United Kingdom and the United States navies.