China and Russia have increased military exercises in an alignment of foreign policies and in opposition to the West.
\n Beijing
\nJoint exercises between the Chinese and Russian navy in the East China Sea that begin this week will \u201cfurther deepen\u201d cooperation between Moscow and Beijing, China has announced.
\nThe drills will be held off the coast of Zhejiang province south of Shanghai from Wednesday until next Tuesday, according to a brief notice posted on Monday by China\u2019s Eastern Theater Command of the People\u2019s Liberation Army.
\n\u201cThis joint exercise is directed at demonstrating the determination and capability of the two sides to jointly respond to maritime security threats \u2026 and further deepen the China-Russia comprehensive new-era strategic partnership of coordination,\u201d the notice said.
\nThe Russian defence ministry said on Monday that ships involved in the joint drills included the Varyag missile cruiser, the Marshal Shaposhnikov destroyer, and two corvette-class ships of Russia\u2019s Pacific Fleet.
\nThe ministry said the Chinese navy planned to deploy several surface warships and a submarine for the exercise, and that military aircraft from both sides will take part.
\nChina provided no immediate information on what units would be taking part in the exercise, which comes at a time when ties between Moscow and Beijing \u2013 while strained by Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine \u2013 have remained strong and China has provided political cover for Russia\u2019s war on its neighbour amid international condemnation of Moscow\u2019s aggression.
\nRussia has also more recently strongly backed China amid its tensions with the US over Taiwan.
\nPutting aside decades of mutual distrust, China and Russia have stepped up military exercises as part of their aligning of foreign policies in recent years to oppose the US-led liberal Western political order.
\nAs well as refusing to criticise Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine, or even to refer to it as an invasion or war, Beijing has condemned Western sanctions against Moscow, and accuses Washington and NATO of provoking Russian President Vladimir Putin into taking action. China also remains a major customer of Russian oil and gas which is being bought at a heavy discount.
\nRussia and China are also said to be \u201csharing a toolkit\u201d of approaches and strategies to undermine NATO, according to Julianne Smith, US ambassador to NATO.
\n\u201cThose two are increasingly sharing a toolkit that should concern the NATO alliance, Smith told the Financial Times in an article published on Tuesday.
\n\u201cThere\u2019s just no question that the [People\u2019s Republic of China] and Russia are both working to divide\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009the transatlantic partners. And we are now very aware, we all have a deeper appreciation of those efforts and are intent on addressing them,\u201d Smith said in an interview.
\n\u201cWe\u2019ve seen them share hybrid tactics,\u201d Smith added. \u201cI think China watches very closely how Russia relies on disinformation and things like coercion or energy security, malign or malicious cyber-operations,\u201d she said.
\nNATO listed China for the first time in June as one of its strategic challenges, saying Beijing\u2019s ambitions and its \u201ccoercive policies\u201d undermined the Western military bloc\u2019s \u201cinterests, security and values\u201d.
\nIn November, Tu-95 bombers of the Russian air force and Chinese H-6K bombers flew joint patrols over the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea. As part of the drills, the Russian bombers landed in China for the first time, and the Chinese bombers flew to an air base in Russia.
\nIn September, China sent more than 2,000 troops along with more than 300 military vehicles, 21 combat aircraft and three warships to take part in a sweeping joint exercise with Russia.
\nThe Vostok 2022 (East 2022) exercise took place in various locations in Russia\u2019s Far East and the Sea of Japan and involved more than 50,000 troops and 5,000 weapons units, including 140 aircraft and 60 warships, according to the Russian defence ministry.
\nChina last week also sent a squadron of navy ships through straits near Japan into the Western Pacific as Beijing blasted Tokyo\u2019s adoption of a new national security strategy putting itself on a more offensive footing \u2014 largely as a result of the perceived threat from China.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
China and Russia have increased military exercises in an alignment of foreign policies and in opposition to the West. Beijing Joint exercises between the Chinese and Russian navy in the East China Sea that begin this week will \u201cfurther deepen\u201d cooperation between Moscow and Beijing, China has announced. The drills will be held off the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":302473,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[18,338],"class_list":{"0":"post-302445","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-china","9":"tag-russia"},"yoast_head":"\n