BEIJING \u2014\u00a0China and Russia will hold joint military\u00a0drills in the waters and airspace of the Sea of Japan, Beijing said Thursday,\u00a0the latest defenSe cooperation between the countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The exercises will take place Aug. 20-28 in the Peter the Great Gulf\u00a0and other areas off the Russian coast, Defense Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun\u00a0told reporters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A key purpose of the drills was to “further enhance their capabilities of\u00a0jointly coping with maritime security threats,”\u00a0Yang said, adding they will\u00a0include training in air defense, anti-submarine and surface warfare, and
China will send seven naval ships including a destroyer and a frigate,\u00a0along with fighter jets and other aircraft, Yang said.\u00a0Russia’s contingent will include surface vessels, submarines and fixed wing
The drills come as Beijing and Moscow intensify cooperation in military,\u00a0political and economic spheres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In May they conducted their first joint naval exercises in European waters\u00a0in the Black Sea and Mediterranean. It was China’s farthest ever naval
Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin\u00a0hold frequent summits and their countries, both permanent members of the\u00a0United Nations Security Council, often take similar stances there on divisive
The waters of the Peter the Great Gulf, south of Vladivostok, are close to\u00a0where the borders of Russia, China and North Korea come together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Beijing and Tokyo are at odds over islands in the East China Sea farther\u00a0south controlled by Japan but claimed by China, though both sides have made\u00a0efforts to cool tensions through dialogue, including meetings between Xi and\u00a0Japanese prime Minister Shinzo Abe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Japanese government last week claimed that China has put 16 drilling\u00a0rigs close to its de facto maritime border with Japan, claiming China could\u00a0exploit undersea reserves over which the two countries are at loggerheads.
‘The purpose of the Japanese accusation against China is to create and play\u00a0up the China threat theory,” he said, adding it provided Japan “an excuse” for\u00a0new defencse legislation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Japan’s lower house of parliament this month approved controversial laws to\u00a0allow Japanese troops to fight alongside allies when under attack, which has\u00a0raised concerns in China that Tokyo will take a more robust military stance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
China is planning a huge military parade in early September to commemorate\u00a0victory over Japanese forces as well as the broader defeat of the Axis powers\u00a0in World War II.\u00a0Russian troops will participate. after<\/span> China’s military took part in a march\u00a0in Moscow in May also marking the end of the conflict.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" China and Russia will hold joint military drills in the waters and airspace of the Sea of Japan, Beijing said Thursday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":114943,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":26,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[33,26],"tags":[],"coauthors":[2793],"class_list":["post-56151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home","category-training-sim"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"O2IINZYFWFC65LXPMYB2K6A2UU","arc_canonical_url":"\/training-sim\/2015\/07\/30\/china-russia-to-hold-joint-naval-air-drill\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n