BEIJING: China and Russia’s naval forces on Sunday kicked off a joint exercise at a military port in southern China on Sunday, official news agency Xinhua reported, days after NATO allies called Beijing a “decisive enabler” of the war in Ukraine.
The Chinese Defence Ministry said in a brief statement that forces from both sides recently patrolled the western and northern Pacific Ocean and that the operation had nothing to do with international and regional situations and didn’t target any third party.
The exercise, which began in Guangdong province on Sunday and is expected to last until mid-July, aimed to demonstrate the capabilities of the navies in addressing security threats and preserving peace, state broadcaster CCTV reported Saturday, adding it would include anti-missile exercises, sea strikes and air defence.
Xinhua reported that the Chinese and Russian naval forces carried out on-map military simulation and tactical coordination exercises after the opening ceremony in the city of Zhanjiang.
Last week, in a ‘sternly-worded’ final communiqué, approved by the 32 NATO members at their summit in Washington, they had made clear that China was becoming a focus of the military alliance, calling Beijing a “decisive enabler” of Russia’s war against Ukraine.
In response, China accused NATO of seeking security at the expense of others and told the alliance not to bring the same “chaos” to Asia. Its foreign ministry maintained that China has a fair and objective stance on the war in Ukraine.
Last week, a US Coast Guard cutter on routine patrol in the Bering Sea also came across several Chinese military ships in international waters but within the US exclusive economic zone, American officials said. Its crew detected three vessels in the Aleutian Islands, which mark a separation and linkage between the North Pacific and the Bering Sea.