China, Russia join for drills in South China Sea
Exercises in disputed territory is designed to improve partnership
China and Russia will hold joint military exercises in September in the disputed South China Sea, China’s military said Thursday.
The joint drills by the two countries will take place on land and at sea and will not target any third party, China’s Defense Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun said, according to the state-run Xinhua News Agency. The drills are designed to improve the China-Russia strategic partnership and their ability to jointly deal with maritime security threats, Yang said.
The announcement comes one day after a meeting of 10 members of South Asia-Pacific and South East Asian Nations ended without a joint rebuke of China’s claim to islands and rocks in the disputed waterway.
A rebuke was expected after an international tribunal ruled this month against China’s vast territorial claims to the region in a case brought by the Philippines.
The Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, Netherlands, ruled July 12 that China “had violated the Philippines’ sovereign rights” in the area. The ruling also said China had interfered with Philippine fishing and petroleum exploration, constructed artificial islands and used its law enforcement vessels to block off parts of the sea and obstruct ships.
China vowed after the ruling to take “all necessary measures” to protect its claim in the area, which encompasses major shipping routes for goods traveling to and from East Asia, rich fisheries and petroleum under the sea floor. China’s ruling Communist Party said it had a right to set up an air defense zone.
The United States considers the area an international shipping lane open to all civilian and military vessels, and has sent Navy ships and aircraft to patrol the area.
Navy Adm. John Richardson said Tuesday at the Pentagon that he “made it absolutely clear” to the Chinese during a recent visit to the area that the United States will pursue “interests in the area and commitments to allies.”
Rising tensions include an incident in June, when one of two Chinese jets made an “unsafe intercept” of a U.S. reconnaissance plane by flying too close, according to the Pentagon.
Navy Adm. John Richardson “made it absolutely clear” to the Chinese ... that the United States will pursue “interests in the area and commitments to allies.”