The Chinese Ministry of National Defense yesterday announced joint naval and air drills with Russia starting this month, underscoring the closeness between their militaries as Russia presses its grinding invasion of Ukraine.
The ministry said the “Northern United-2024” exercises would take place in the Sea of Japan and the Sea of Okhotsk farther north, but gave no details.
It said the naval and air drills would aim to improve strategic cooperation between the two nations and “strengthen their ability to jointly deal with security threats.”
Photo: Xinhua via AP
The notice also said the two navies would cruise together in the Pacific, the fifth time they have done so, and together take part in Russia’s “Great Ocean-24” exercise. No details were given.
China has refused to criticize Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, now in its third year, and has blamed the US and NATO for provoking Russian President Vladimir Putin.
While China has not directly provided Russia with arms, it has become a crucial economic lifeline as a top customer for Russian oil and gas, as well as a supplier of electronics and other items with civilian and military uses.
Russia and China, along with other US critics such as Iran, have aligned their foreign policies to challenge and potentially overturn the Western-led liberal democratic order.
With joint exercises, Russia has sought Chinese help in achieving its long-cherished aim of becoming a Pacific power, while Moscow has backed China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea and elsewhere.
That has increasingly included the Taiwan Strait. Although China is not opposed to navigation by others through one of the world’s most heavily trafficked sea ways, China is “firmly opposed to provocations by countries that jeopardize China’s sovereignty and security under the banner of freedom of navigation,” Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Mao Ning (毛寧) said at a news conference on Friday last week.
Mao was responding to a report that a pair of German navy ships were to pass through the Taiwan Strait this month for the first time in more than two decades.
The US and virtually every other nation, including Taiwan, considers the Taiwan Strait international waters.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
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