China conducts air, sea drills in East China Sea

China conducted large-scale air and sea exercises in the East China Sea on Thursday, state news agency Xinhua said, the third time in the last two months it has carried out such live-fire maritime drills.

The training involved more than 100 ships, dozens of aircraft, information warfare units as well the firing of close to 100 missiles, Xinhua said.

It did not specify where exactly the exercises took place.

China and Japan are involved in an increasingly bitter dispute over ownership of a group of uninhabited islets in the East China Sea, called the Senkaku by Tokyo and Diaoyu by Beijing.

China has in the last two months held similar exercises in the Yellow Sea, and also the disputed waters of the South China Sea.

China claims most of the potentially energy-rich South China Sea, through which $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year, and rejects the rival claims of Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan.

Separately, China's Defence Ministry said China will hold joint military drills next month with Malaysia in the strategic Strait of Malacca, and will also hold training exercises with Australia and the United States in Australia.

China's rapidly modernising armed forces have been increasing their global reach and carrying out exercises in ever more distant locations, as the government seeks to protect its interests around the world.

But China has jangled nerves, especially in its territorial disputes in the South and East China Seas with a growing assertiveness.