China and Russia Conduct Joint Naval Exercises in the Sea of Japan

What Happened?

This week Russia and China held a series of joint naval exercises and wargames in the Sea of Japan. According to China’s Defense Ministry, the Joint Sea-2025 drills were taking place in close proximity to Vladivostok, Russia’s largest naval base on the Pacific Ocean. These exercises were pre-planned according to Russian and Chinese military spokesmen.

Four Chinese warships, including guided-missile destroyers Shaoxing and Urumqi, were participating in the three-day exercises. The exercises will include ‘submarine rescue, joint anti-submarine, air defense and anti-missile operations, and maritime combat,’ followed by naval patrols in the northern Pacific.

Why it Matters

Though these exercises have been planned for a long time, they come during a period of rising tensions between the United States and Russia and following joint U.S.-Japanese military exercises in the Pacific. China’s Defense Ministry said, ‘The US has been blindly flexing its muscles in the Asia-Pacific region and attempting to use military drills as a pretext to gang up, intimidate and pressure other countries, and undermine peace and stability in the region.’ 

China likely views this week’s exercises as a demonstration that they are not intimidated by the recent American naval exercises in the Pacific region. Russia too is eager to showcase its opposition to the United States, following a war of words between former Russian President Dmitri Medvedev and current U.S. President Donald Trump last week. The verbal spat between Mr. Medvedev and Mr. Trump was followed by the repositioning of American nuclear submarines in the north Atlantic closer to Russia.

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The joint Chinese-Russia exercises also indicate closer ties between the two nations, though opposition to the United States is probably the strongest common factor shared by the two countries. An old Chinese proverb states, ‘it doesn’t matter if a cat is black or white, as long is it catches mice.’ That type of thinking may explain why China has a more practical and opportunistic philosophy when it comes to how much it chooses to cooperate with its northern neighbor. 

At the moment, closer cooperation with Russia serves a practical purpose from China’s perspective by helping it offset the United States, it doesn’t mean China has any newfound love of Russia. Russia too has practical reasons to support closer ties with China. After U.S. economic sanctions kept western goods out of Russia markets, Chinese suppliers readily stepped in and flooded Russia with cheap knock offs of leading western brands. Thus far Russian consumers seem just as happy with the imitations as the real thing. 

How it Affects You

The improving ties between China and Russia serve short term practical purposes for both nations, but it would be premature to regard their current cooperation as the basis of a long-term strategic alliance. Russia and China have an extensive history of mistrust, disputes, and conflict, which means sometimes an exercise could be just an exercise.