By Guo Yuandan

China and five ASEAN countries will hold the Peace and Friendship-2023 joint exercise, according to the PLA Southern Theater Command. Experts on international issues pointed out that the Peace and Friendship series of joint drills has developed rapidly in recent years, which indicates that the security cooperation between China and ASEAN countries has continuously taken new steps. This helps all parties jointly maintain regional peace and stability and avoid falling into the trap of confrontation between camps and geopolitical games.

The Peace and Friendship joint military exercise began in 2014. The opening ceremony of the Peace and Friendship-2014 joint tabletop game between the Chinese and Malaysian militaries was held in Kuala Lumpur in December 2014. In September 2015, the Chinese and Malaysian militaries conducted the first joint military exercise. The Peace and Friendship-2018 China-Malaysia-Thailand joint military exercise was held in October 2018. The Peace and Friendship-2023 to be held this year will expand again from the three countries of China, Malaysia and Thailand to China, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Zhuo Hua, an expert on international issues at the School of International Relations and Diplomacy at Beijing Foreign Studies University, said that the scale of the Peace and Friendship joint exercises is enlarging, the number of participating countries is expanding, and the degree of institutionalization of the joint exercise is becoming more mature, which is positive and meaningful for the security of participating countries and regions. 

Zhuo believes that the Peace and Friendship-2023 joint exercise can give full play to the role of a regional security stabilizer. On the one hand, more ASEAN countries are participating, and more and more countries agree with China's vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative, and sustainable security, and increase coordination with China in terms of actions. Against the backdrop where some major countries outside the region are trying to win over some countries in Southeast Asia to engage in bloc confrontation, the Peace and Friendship joint exercise will effectively resist the negative impact of the "zero-sum game bloc security concept" on the security of the Asia-Pacific region, said Zhuo.

On the other hand, all parties can fully optimize the standard operating procedures and command procedures of multinational forces at the operational level in the joint exercise, which effectively improves the capability of all parties to jointly respond to security threats and is of great practical significance to maintaining the security of key navigation channels and sea areas in the Asia-Pacific region, said Zhuo.

The security cooperation between China and ASEAN countries is not aimed at any third party. Instead, it has a positive impact on deepening  the relationship between the defense departments of China and ASEAN countries and the deepening of military-to-military understanding. The active development of military diplomacy will also promote the substantive improvement of relations between all parties and play a constructive role in effectively maintaining regional peace and stability.

Editor's note: Originally published on mil.huanqiu.com, this article is translated from Chinese into English and edited by the China Military Online. The information and opinions in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of eng.chinamil.com.cn.