China said on Friday, it was conducting joint military drills with Russia along its southern coast, after a US-led Western defence alliance met in Washington, China’s defence ministry said the two militaries had begun the exercises, called Joint Sea-2024, in “early July” and they would last until the middle of this month.
The drills in the waters and airspace around Zhanjiang, a city in southern Guangdong province, are “to demonstrate the resolve and capabilities of the two sides in jointly addressing maritime security threats and preserving global and regional peace and stability”,
It added that the exercises “will further deepen China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for the new era.
The announcement came in the same week that NATO leaders convened in Washington to reaffirm support for Ukraine at the ongoing Russia’s invasion.
China maintains that it is not a party to the Ukraine conflict but has been criticised by Western leaders for giving political and economic support to Russia, including in the trade of goods with both civilian and military uses.
Chinese forces are also staging drills this week with Belarus, another Russian ally, on NATO’s eastern border and Japan said today that joint China-Russia activities near its territory pose a “grave concern from the perspective of national security.
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