Xi fleet sails to Europe for naval exercise
RUSSIA: Chinese and Russian warships will engage in military exercises off the coast of Europe this week as the two nations continue to strengthen ties.
The drills are being conducted in the waters off Kaliningrad, Russia’s highly militarised exclave sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania, both Nato members.
Sino-Russian naval exercises have been held every year since 2012 in the Pacific or the Mediterranean, but these are the first in the Baltic Sea, where tensions are already high.
The US, Britain and other Nato states are monitoring the war games. ‘‘We are closely tracking Russian exercises with other participants like China,’’ the US European Command said as the exercises got under way last week.
Ten ships and about the same number of aircraft are taking part, among them two Russian corvettes and the Chinese Type 052D guided missile destroyer Hefei, one of the country’s most advanced warships. The most active phase begins tomorrow.
The Chinese flotilla travelled 16,000 km to the Baltic in order to participate, being escorted at various times by British, Dutch and Danish craft as it approached its destination through the English Channel and the North Sea.
Chinese state media made clear the expedition was a show of force. ‘‘By sending its most advanced guided- missile destroyers, China is expressing its sincerity to Russia and also sends a strong signal to other countries who plan to provoke us,’’ Li Jie, a naval expert, told Global Times.
President Vladimir Putin and President Xi Jinping held talks in Moscow this month, both condemning the deployment of a US missile defence unit in South Korea. There have been several recent incidents of Nato and Russian ships and aircraft approaching each other in the Baltic, with each side accusing the other of being provocative.
The Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia are nervous about Russia’s military build-up in Kaliningrad, where the Baltic Sea fleet is based. Two corvettes armed with Kalibr nuclear-capable cruise missiles were added to the fleet in October, and a month later the Kremlin announced that Iskander nuclear-capable missiles were being deployed there permanently, as well as S-400 air defence systems. Anti-ship missiles were also stationed on the coast.
- The Times