Russia and China hold joint military exercises in the Yellow Sea as they boost their alliance

The Armed Forces of Russia and China launched a series of joint military exercises in the Yellow Sea on Monday as they seek to boost their bilateral relations and defense cooperation, as reported by the Pacific Fleet, the second most important naval force of the Russian Navy.

The parties have launched a series of firing practices following the deployment of several warships in the vicinity. The maneuvers, under the name Naval Cooperation 2026, will last for several days.

During them, sailors from both countries are expected to test their artillery and machine gun systems, simulating defense capabilities against a possible attack with unmanned aerial vehicles and boats, as clarified by the Pacific Fleet in a statement.

“With the support of naval aviation, sailors from both countries will practice joint rescue operations, anti-submarine warfare and air defense, and will carry out joint maneuvers with the use of artillery. The exercises will focus on jointly countering robotic systems and other modern threats at sea,” the text stated.

The maneuvers are carried out with the participation of the Russian ship ‘Varyag’, the corvette ‘Rezki’, the submarine ‘Ufa’ and the rescue ship ‘Igor Belousov’. On the Chinese side, the destroyers ‘Anshan’ and ‘Kaifeng’, the frigate ‘Wuhu’, a ‘Yuan’ class submarine, the integral replenishment ship ‘Kekexilihu’ and the submarine support ship ‘Yangchenghu’ have been deployed.

For their part, Chinese forces have stated that Russia has “valuable experience in submarine rescue.” “In the field of submarine combat support, Chinese forces will take advantage of Russian experience through a joint submarine rescue maneuver to gain practical experience in collaborative detection of submarines of various types and underwater emergency rescue,” a spokesperson for the Chinese Army told the South China Morning Post.

These maneuvers took place shortly after the ballistic test carried out by Beijing from a nuclear-powered submarine, a measure that has sparked criticism from the United States and with which the Asian giant seeks to demonstrate its progress within the framework of nuclear deterrence.