PLA Daily: Top 10 military exercises of world in 2012(10)

　J. "Corsica Lion" joint maritime and air exercise

Exercise time: October 16

Participating countries: The UK and France

Exercise location: The Mediterranean Sea areas

Exercise contents: amphibious operation exercise, and maritime and air operation exercise

Concern index: ★★★

Reasons for concern: old powers including the UK and France tried to maintain their military influence

Military strength committed: 11 warships including the "De Gaulle" aircraft carrier and thousands of officers and men

Expert's comments: The UK and France signed an agreement two years ago in which they decided to strengthen bilateral defense and planned to set up joint armed forces four years later. Through the exercise, the UK and France, both being old developed countries, also expressed that they still played an important role on the regional security issues although the NATO led by the U.S. played the major role in the European regional security. (By Zhang Renlong, with the Department of World Military Research of the PLA Academy of Military Sciences)