BEIJING, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- As China and Russia started on Monday an eight-day joint naval drill off the coast of south China's Guangdong Province, speculations are going rife that the military exercises are meant as a "sabre-rattling" event in the South China Sea."
Those susceptible to such speculations are either ill-informed about the fact that the joint naval drill has been an annual event since 2012 and that the ongoing drill takes place just off China's southern coast, or misled by their prejudice about China and Russia.
The drill, code-named "Joint Sea - 2016," comprises defense, rescue and anti-submarine operations, as well as island seizing activities, according to the Chinese Defense Ministry, which also said most of the Chinese soldiers participating in the event are from the South Sea Fleet.
A logical guess is that, for those who have bought the sensational claim regarding the drill, they probably only see words like "island seizing" and "South Sea Fleet" and start to imagine a war in the South China Sea.
They have fallen prey to the idea partly because earlier reports by Western news media almost unanimously wove some carefully chosen components into the background of the news of the China-Russia joint drill so as to deliver home a sensational impression.
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