The Vostok drills are as a consequence of begin on the finish of the month and also will embrace India, Belarus, Mongolia and Tajikistan.
Chinese language troops will journey to Russia to participate in joint army workouts that may begin on the finish of the month, Beijing’s defence ministry has stated.
Final month, Moscow introduced plans to carry “Vostok” (East) army drills from August 30 to September 5, saying some international forces would additionally participate with out naming them.
Beijing and Moscow have shut defence hyperlinks and China has stated it desires to push bilateral relations “to a better stage,” at the same time as Moscow faces worldwide sanctions and widespread condemnation over its February 24 invasion of Ukraine.
“The goal is to deepen sensible and pleasant cooperation with the armies of collaborating international locations, improve the extent of strategic collaboration among the many collaborating events, and strengthen the power to answer varied safety threats,” the Chinese language defence ministry stated in a press release.
India, Belarus, Mongolia, Tajikistan and different international locations may even take part, it stated.
Relations between Russia and China have grown more and more shut below Chinese language President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, and Beijing has been below stress for its opposition to sanctions imposed by many Western international locations over the struggle. Shortly earlier than the invasion, Moscow and Beijing agreed on a “no limits” partnership.
Beijing stated its resolution to take part within the joint workouts was “unrelated to the present worldwide and regional scenario”.
A yr in the past this month, Russia and China held joint army workouts in north-central China involving greater than 10,000 troops. Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu praised the drills in China’s Ningxia and urged they may very well be developed additional.
In October, Russia and China held joint naval drills within the Sea of Japan. Days later, Russian and Chinese language warships held their first joint patrols within the western Pacific.
The next month, South Korea’s army stated it had scrambled fighter jets after two Chinese language and 7 Russian warplanes intruded into its air defence identification zone throughout what Beijing referred to as common coaching.
The Vostok drills are the second joint army train performed by Chinese language and Russian troops this yr.
Bombers from the 2 international locations performed a 13-hour drill near Japan and South Korea in Might, forcing these international locations to scramble jet fighters, as United States President Joe Biden was visiting Tokyo.
State Division Spokesperson Ned Worth stated that whereas warming ties between China and Russia undermined international safety, Washington didn’t “learn something” into the drills.
“A lot of the collaborating international locations additionally routinely take part in a wide selection of army workouts and exchanges with the US as effectively,” he informed a press convention.
Russia’s japanese army district consists of a part of Siberia and has its headquarters in Khabarovsk, close to the Chinese language border.
