By Jennifer Amarachi
China announced Monday that it will perform joint military training with Russia this month, as the partners strengthen ties that have led NATO to label Beijing a “enabler” of Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
China’s defense ministry announced that naval and aviation troops will participate in the “North-Joint 2024” exercises in the skies and around the Seas of Japan and Okhotsk, which are off Russia’s coast.
“This exercise aims to deepen the strategic cooperation level between the Chinese and Russian militaries and enhance their ability to jointly deal with security threats,” said a ministry spokesperson.
The two countries will dispatch naval fleets to “relevant sea areas of the Pacific Ocean” for a coordinated maritime patrol, and China will also take part in Russia’s “Ocean-2024” strategic exercise, the statement stated.
The ministry did not specify when the drills will take place. In July, the two countries conducted joint drills in the waters and skies surrounding Zhanjiang, a city in southern China’s Guangdong province.
Those drills took place the same week that NATO officials said China had “become a decisive enabler” of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, leading Beijing to caution the US-led military bloc against “provoking confrontation”.
The two sides will dispatch naval fleets to “relevant sea areas of the Pacific Ocean” for a coordinated maritime patrol, with China participating.
In recent years, Russia and China have increased their military and economic collaboration while simultaneously denouncing “Western hegemony,” especially what they perceive to be US dominance in international affairs. They announced a relationship with “no limits” just before Moscow launched its invasion in Ukraine in 2022.
When he met Chinese Premier Li Qiang in Moscow last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared that his country’s trade and economic ties with China were “yielding results.”
