China, Russia Hold Joint Naval Exercises to ‘Deepen’ Partnership | News

China and Russia have increased military exercises in an alignment of foreign policies and in opposition to the West.

Joint exercises between the Chinese and Russian navies in the East China Sea starting this week will “further deepen” cooperation between Moscow and Beijing, China announced.

The drills will be held off the coast of Zhejiang province, south of Shanghai, from Wednesday to next Tuesday, according to a brief notice released Monday by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command. .

“This joint exercise is aimed at demonstrating the determination and ability of the two sides to jointly respond to maritime security threats… and further deepen the new-era comprehensive strategic coordination partnership between China and Russia. ”the notice said.

The Russian Defense Ministry said on Monday that the ships involved in the joint drills included the Varyag missile cruiser, the destroyer Marshal Shaposhnikov and two corvette-class ships from Russia’s Pacific Fleet.

The ministry said the Chinese navy plans to deploy several surface warships and a submarine for the exercise, and military aircraft from both sides will participate.

China did not provide immediate information on which units would take part in the exercise, which comes at a time when ties between Moscow and Beijing, though strained by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, have remained strong and China has provided political cover for the war in Russia in your country. neighbor in the midst of international condemnation of Moscow’s aggression.

Russia has also more recently backed China amid its tensions with the US over Taiwan.

Putting aside decades of mutual mistrust, China and Russia have intensified military exercises as part of their foreign policy alignment in recent years to oppose the US-led liberal Western political order.

In addition to refusing to criticize Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, or even refer to it as an invasion or a war, Beijing has condemned Western sanctions against Moscow and accused Washington and NATO of provoking Russian President Vladimir Putin to take action. China also remains a major customer for Russian oil and gas, which is bought at a deep discount.

Russia and China are also said to be “sharing a toolkit” of approaches and strategies to undermine NATO, according to Julianne Smith, the US ambassador to NATO.

“Those two are increasingly sharing a set of tools that should worry the NATO alliance,” Smith told the Financial Times in an article published on Tuesday.

“There is simply no doubt that the [People’s Republic of China] and Russia are working to divide. . . transatlantic partners. And now we are very aware, we all have a deeper appreciation of those efforts and we intend to address them,” Smith said in an interview.

“We have seen them share hybrid tactics,” Smith added. “I think China is watching very closely how Russia relies on disinformation and things like coercion or energy security, malicious or malicious cyber operations,” she said.

NATO first listed China as one of its strategic challenges in June, saying Beijing’s ambitions and “coercive policies” undermined the “interests, security and values” of the Western military bloc.

In November, Russian Air Force Tu-95 bombers and Chinese H-6K bombers conducted joint patrols over the Sea of ​​Japan and East China Sea. As part of the drills, Russian bombers landed in China for the first time, and Chinese bombers flew to an airbase in Russia.

In September, China sent more than 2,000 soldiers along with more than 300 military vehicles, 21 combat aircraft and three warships to participate in a comprehensive joint exercise with Russia.

Exercise Vostok 2022 (East 2022) took place at various locations in the Russian Far East and the Sea of ​​Japan and involved more than 50,000 soldiers and 5,000 weapons units, including 140 aircraft and 60 warships, according to the Defense Ministry. Russian.

China also sent a squadron of navy ships through straits near Japan into the western Pacific last week as Beijing criticized Tokyo’s adoption of a new national security strategy that takes a more offensive stance, largely part as a result of the perceived threat from China.