According to Beijing’s defence ministry, Chinese troops will go to Russia to participate in joint military drills that will begin at the end of the month.
Moscow declared last month that “Vostok” (East) military exercises would take place from August 30 to September 5 and that some foreign forces would participate without being specifically identified.
Despite Moscow being subject to international sanctions and worldwide condemnation for its invasion of Ukraine on February 24, Beijing and Moscow have significant defence ties, and China has stated that it intends to advance bilateral relations “to a higher level.”
The objective, according to a statement from China’s defence ministry, is to “deepen practical and friendly cooperation with the armies of participating countries, increase the level of strategic collaboration among the participating parties, and strengthen the ability to respond to various security threats.”
It stated that other nations would also be participating, including Belarus, Mongolia, Tajikistan, and India.
Under Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, relations between the two countries have gotten stronger. Beijing has also been under criticism for its resistance to the war-related sanctions imposed by many Western nations. Moscow and Beijing decided on a “no limits” alliance just before the attack.
Beijing claimed that the choice to take part in the joint drills had nothing to do with the current global and regional environment.
This month last year, almost 10,000 soldiers participated in joint military drills between China and Russia in north-central China. Sergei Shoigu, the minister of defence of Russia, commended the exercises in China’s Ningxia region and urged they be expanded.
China and Russia conducted coordinated naval exercises in the Sea of Japan in October. The first coordinated patrols between Chinese and Russian vessels were conducted in the western Pacific a few days later.
The military of South Korea claimed to have scrambled fighter jets the next month after two Chinese and seven Russian aircraft violated its air defence identification zone while conducting what Beijing described as routine training.
The Vostok exercises are the second combined military practise that Chinese and Russian forces have carried out this year.
In May, as US President Joe Biden was visiting Tokyo, bombers from the two nations performed a 13-hour exercise near to Japan and South Korea, leading those nations to activate its jet fighters.
Ned Price, a spokesman for the State Department, claimed that despite the fact that improving relations between China and Russia threatened international security, Washington had not “read anything” into the drills.
He said at a press conference that “the majority of the participating countries also frequently participate in a wide array of military exercises and exchanges with the United States as well.”
Part of Siberia is included in the eastern military district of Russia, which is headquartered in Khabarovsk, not far from the Chinese border.
