Russia and China hold record number of joint military exercises

Russia and China held six joint military exercises last year, the most in 20 years. writes Bloomberg.

The agency, citing data from the Center for the Study of Chinese Military Affairs at the US National Defense University (NDU), writes that exercises with Moscow near Beijing accounted for two-thirds of all PRC exercises with foreign armed forces in 2022. It is specified that four of the six exercises were bilateral, the rest went with “US adversaries, including Iran and Syria.”

According to Bloomberg, Russia and China have held at least 36 exercises together since 2014, after the annexation of Crimea to the Russian Federation. At the same time, in the ten years before, the parties had organized only ten exercises.

On July 15, the Chinese Ministry of Defense announced that the Russian Armed Forces would take part in the North. Interaction – 2023″ in the Sea of ​​Japan. According to the department, the Russian military will send its naval and air forces there in the near future. It is specified that the exercises will be held with the aim of “maintaining the security of strategic maritime channels” – to coordinate the military forces of the two countries and increase the ability to maintain peace and stability in the region.

“These exercises will become more frequent, more politically tinged. This suggests the possibility of them working together in ways that the US and its allies would find unpleasant, if not offensive,” said Andrew Taffer, a researcher at the NDU’s Center for the Study of China Military Affairs.

In the second half of February 2023, joint naval exercises of Russia, China and South Africa, codenamed Mosi, took place in the Indian Ocean. Six ships and vessels were involved in those exercises: three Chinese, two Russian and one South African. From March 15 to 19, Russia, Iran and China held naval exercises in the Gulf of Oman.