Chinese and Russian armed forces agree to hold more joint drills
- Senior military officers agree to exercises just days after aircraft conduct patrols near South Korea
- Beijing-Moscow cooperation has had a stabilising effect on the world, Russian general says
In a video call on Friday, Liu Zhenli, head of China’s Joint Staff Department, and Valery Gerasimov, the Russian military’s chief of general staff, confirmed Moscow’s participation in the “Northern Joint 2023” exercises.
The time and location drills have not been announced.
According to the Russian Ministry of Defence, Gerasimov told Liu that cooperation between Beijing and Moscow had had a “stabilising effect on the world situation”.
“I am convinced that today’s talks will serve to further strengthen the Russian-Chinese strategic partnership in the defence sphere,” Gerasimov said, adding that the two countries’ joint operational and combat training would “continue to be a priority”.
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China-Russia joint air patrols spark security concerns in South Korea, Japan
On Tuesday, four Chinese and four Russian military planes conducted strategic patrols in airspace over the East China Sea and the Sea of Japan, known in South Korea as the East Sea. The exercise was the sixth of its kind since 2019 under the annual cooperation plan between the two militaries, according to Beijing’s defence ministry.
The aircraft entered South Korea’s “air defence identification zone” – an area wider than a country’s airspace in which it tries to control aircraft for security reasons but not governed by international rules.
Taiwan’s defence ministry also reported on Thursday that People’s Liberation Army aircraft, including J-11 and J-16 fighter jets, made 37 sorties into the island’s air defence identification zone, with a flight path that indicated they were en route to the western Pacific.
