Six Chinese ships, including missile destroyers, and five Russian ships, some of them destroyers, sailed between the Japanese island of Okinawa and Miyako Island before heading toward the East China Sea on Thursday, according to Japan’s Defense Ministry. .
It is the first time that Russian and Chinese ships have sailed together through this particular body of water. The ships did not intrude into Japan’s territorial waters.
The 11 warships were first sighted 280 kilometers northeast of Okinotori Island in Japan’s southern tip on Tuesday morning local time, according to the Defense Ministry statement.
The ships are believed to have participated in a joint patrol in the Pacific. Most of them were previously seen sailing through the Soya Strait between Hokkaido and Sakhalin towards the Sea of Okhotsk, after holding joint drills in the Sea of Japan in July, the statement added.
The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed the joint patrol in a statement on its official Telegram channel, saying that a detachment of ships is currently operating in the waters of the East China Sea. Chinese and Russian sailors conducted anti-submarine exercises, repelled a simulated enemy air attack, conducted sea rescue training and practiced helicopter takeoffs and landings on the decks of warships, the Russian ministry said.
Japan’s defense ministry said China and Russia have repeatedly held joint air and naval exercises near the country in recent years, which are “clearly intended as a show of force against Japan” and are of “grave concern” for national security. .
He added that Tokyo had conveyed its concerns about these joint activities through diplomatic channels.
Japan’s relations with Russia have deteriorated since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began 18 months ago. Tokyo joined its Western allies in imposing sanctions on Moscow and pledged billions in humanitarian aid for Kyiv.
China, meanwhile, has strengthened political and economic ties with Russia, despite maintaining that it remains a neutral party in the conflict and a champion of peace.
trilateral summit
Thursday’s incident comes ahead of the first trilateral summit between the US, Japan and South Korea, and the leaders of the three countries will meet this Friday at the US presidential retirement home at Camp David. There they are expected to agree to deepen economic, technological and defense cooperation, according to senior Biden administration officials.
The summit will also serve as a show of force as countries grapple with security challenges including provocative behavior by North Korea and military maneuvers by a rising China.
The meeting is particularly significant given the historically tense relationship between Seoul and Tokyo, including a dispute between the two countries over forced labor by Japan during its occupation of Korea. But the two current leaders, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and President Yoon Suk Yoel, have made efforts to work more closely together in the face of shared regional threats, even holding joint military exercises with the US last year.
This union has not been well received by its Asian rivals. Earlier this year, China’s top diplomat urged Japan and South Korea to foster a sense of “strategic autonomy” from the West and instead cooperate with China to “revitalize Asia.”
“No matter how blonde you dye your hair, how sharp you shape your nose, you can never become a European or an American, you can never become a Westerner,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said. “We must know where our roots are.”
And officials are also wary of a possible North Korean reaction; the nation has launched missiles ahead of joint US-South Korean military exercises and in response to the US-South Korea-Japan trilateral talks.
Ahead of Friday’s summit, Seoul believes Pyongyang is preparing to launch an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and other “provocations” around the summit or upcoming joint US-South Korean military exercises that they will start next week, according to a South Korean lawmaker briefed by the country’s intelligence service.
