Russia and China start naval exercises in Sea of Japan

Russia and China started naval exercises in the Sea of Japan. The exercises will include anti-aircraft and anti-submarine weapons.

Aim

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.

What is it?

• The naval exercise is named Beibu/Interaction – 2024 and it features the firing of artillery, as well as the use of anti-aircraft and anti-submarine weapons.
• This is the third joint military drill in this location between the two countries. 
• China and Russia carried out their first joint military exercise in the Sea of Okhotsk in 2017 and the second in 2022.

Counter USA in Pacific

Russia and China practiced missile and artillery firing this month as part of Ocean-2024 naval drills, which Russian President Vladimir Putin cast as a bid to counter the United States in the Pacific. 

Location

• Naval and air forces taking part in the exercises in the skies and around the Sea of Japan and Sea of Okhotsk, off Russia’s coast.
• The Sea of ​​Okhotsk lies between Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula in the east, the Kuril Islands in the southeast and Japan’s island of Hokkaido to the south.

Why are joint military drills between China and Russia on the rise?

• The drills come amid the intensifying Ukraine war. 
• Moscow has warned NATO countries that if they lift restrictions on Ukraine’s use of long-range missiles within Russian territory, it would be interpreted by the Kremlin as an act of war.