China’s Ministry of Defense announced that this month it will conduct joint naval and air exercises with Russia, highlighting the closeness between the two militaries while Russia continues its invasion of neighboring Ukraine.
The Ministry stated that the exercises, named “Northern Unity-2024,” will take place in the Sea of Japan and the Sea of Okhotsk, but did not provide further details. The announcement mentioned that the naval and air drills aim to improve strategic cooperation between the two countries and “enhance capabilities to jointly address security threats.”
The Chinese Ministry also mentioned that the two navies will sail together in the Pacific for the fifth time and will participate together in the “Pacific Ocean-24” exercises, which will be held in Russia. However, no additional details about these exercises were provided.
China has refused to criticize Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. For this war, now in its third year, Beijing has blamed the United States and NATO for provoking Russian President Vladimir Putin.
While China has not directly supplied weapons to Russia, it has become the main consumer of Russian gas and oil and a supplier of electronic devices and other equipment with both civilian and military uses. /REL/
