Source record CMC Political Work Department · 2026-09-05

China-Singapore Maritime Cooperation-2026 Joint Exercise Kicks Off

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Desk	China Desk
Publishing institution	CMC Political Work Department
Source outlet	China Military Online (EN) (china_mil_online)
Source language	en — an attribute of the source, not of this record
Source-stated publication date	2026-09-05
Original URL	http://eng.chinamil.com.cn/2025xb/H_251454/L_251456/16483813.html
Collected at	2026-09-05 15:31:26 — collection metadata, not a publication time
Content fingerprint	fecf6d1c9d87ad34a7bdedba98c7902655086957127d3ac7d2ebcf9877396d7a — taken when the record was captured, over the stored original title and text
Collection run	131
Analysis model	claude-sonnet-4-6
Prompt version	v1

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ZHANJIANG, China, Sept. 5 -- The Chinese and Singaporean navies kicked off their "Maritime Cooperation-2026" joint exercise at a naval base in Zhanjiang City, South China's Guangdong Province, on September 5, 2026. The Chinese PLA Navy's Type 054A guided-missile frigate Dali (Hull 553) and the Republic of Singapore Navy's Formidable-class frigate RSS Steadfast (Hull 70) will participate in the exercise. The exercise will comprise a shore phase at a naval base from September 5 to 7, and a sea phase in waters off Zhanjiang City from September 8 to 9, 2026. During the shore phase, personnel from both navies will engage in planning exercises and professional exchanges. At sea, both navies will have an exchange of sea riders and conduct a range of serials. These include gunnery firings, communications and maneuvering exercises, as well as joint search and rescue and medical evacuation drills. Prior to this, China and Singapore have held four "Maritime Cooperation" joint naval exercises. In 2015, the two countries conducted their first bilateral naval exercise under the name "Maritime Cooperation-2015." Since then, the two navies have established a routine mechanism of alternating hosts, with the scale and influence of the exercises steadily growing.

Summary

Machine summary

The PLA Navy frigate Dali (Type 054A, Hull 553) and the Republic of Singapore Navy frigate RSS Steadfast (Formidable-class, Hull 70) opened the fifth iteration of the bilateral 'Maritime Cooperation' exercise series at Zhanjiang on September 5, with a shore phase through September 7 and a sea phase September 8–9 covering gunnery, communications, maneuvering, and joint search-and-rescue drills. The article documents the exercise as part of an established alternating-host mechanism dating to 2015, extending a routine bilateral naval engagement rather than marking a change in scope or posture. What remains unspecified is the number of personnel involved and whether any additional platforms beyond the two named frigates will participate.

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Source text. CMC Political Work Department. "China-Singapore Maritime Cooperation-2026 Joint Exercise Kicks Off." China Military Online (EN), 2026-09-05. http://eng.chinamil.com.cn/2025xb/H_251454/L_251456/16483813.html.

As held. Indo-Pacific Record, China Desk Corpus, Record 3881, Snapshot — 2026-09-05 (3,901 records).

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The record number and this record path are locators inside the 2026-09-05 snapshot. Neither is a DOI, accession number, permanent identifier, public permalink, or published route. See identifiers and citation guidance.