China has said that its navy is preparing to hold a military exercise in the Yellow Sea next week, condemning recent and planned US-South Korean joint drills.
A naval fleet will stage the drill this week from Wednesday to Saturday in the sea between China and the Korean peninsula, the official Xinhua news agency quoted the Chinese military as saying on Sunday.
"This is an annual routine training exercise, mainly involving the firing of shipboard artillery," it added.
The announcement comes shortly after South Korea and the US wrapped up a joint military exercise in the same area.
Earlier, China said the recent US-South Korea joint naval drills in the Yellow Sea risked heightening tensions on the Korean peninsula and ignored China's objections to any foreign military exercises off its coast, AP reported.
Nevertheless, the United States plans to go ahead with an anti-marine warfare exercise with South Korea in the Yellow Sea in early September.
In July, the US and South Korea conducted massive joint sea and air drills in the Sea of Japan off the Korean peninsula, prompting condemnation from China.
The July drill was initially scheduled to take place in the Yellow Sea, but was moved to the other side of the Korean peninsula after objections from Beijing.
Eight days after the exercises, Seoul launched its largest-ever anti-submarine drills near the disputed Yellow Sea border with North Korea.
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