Putin boasts of ‘joint military exercises’ in meeting with Chinese defense chief
Joel Gehrke
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Russian President Vladimir Putin touted “military-to-military cooperation” with China while hosting the communist regime’s defense chief at the Kremlin.
“We also hold joint military exercises in various theaters of operation, including in the Far East, Europe, at sea, on land, as well as in the air,” Putin told Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu, according to the Kremlin transcript. “I do believe that this constitutes a major track for strengthening the trust-based strategic relationship between the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China.”
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Li traveled to Moscow less than a month after Chinese General Secretary Xi Jinping made the trek as Russia and China seek to dramatize their geopolitical cooperation. The meeting on Monday coincided with separate military exercises in the Pacific by each state, while world powers clashed at the U.N. Security Council over North Korea’s nuclear weapons program and Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with democratic heavyweights in Japan.
“We have a very strong relationship that goes beyond the Cold War-era military and political alliances,” the Chinese defense minister said. “Under your strategic leadership and that of the President of China, we are actively developing cooperation in practical spheres. Our relations have already entered a new era.”
Xi has stopped short of taking direct steps to arm Russia in its campaign to overthrow the Ukrainian government, but Ukrainian forces have begun to find larger numbers and varieties of “dual-use” Chinese components in Russian arms, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s team.
“We’re obviously seeing the tightening of the Russia-China alliance,” said Tufts University professor Michael Beckley, who specializes in U.S.-China competition at the American Enterprise Institute. “China obviously has been providing plenty of dual-use aid to Russia throughout this conflict. And it just underscores that they are very much allied in this broader struggle.”
That alignment was on display at the Security Council as Moscow and Beijing stymied a Western attempt to condemn North Korea’s latest launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile. Russian and Chinese officials blamed the United States and South Korea for the tensions with Pyongyang.
“The responsibility for the current aggravation lies with Washington and its allies, which, contrary to their own commitments, refuse to engage in dialogue with North Korea on security guarantees and take practical confidence-building measures,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said after a meeting between Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko and China’s special representative for Korean affairs, Liu Xiaoming. “On the contrary, they increase large-scale military exercises in the region, which are provocative in nature.”
Russia and China are covering for North Korea at the expense of the international norm against the spread of nuclear weapons, the lead U.S. envoy to the United Nations countered, while dismissing their drawing of “false equivalences” between the U.S. and North Korea.
“After all, by the time the United States and ROK resumed large-scale exercises in August of 2022, the DPRK had already launched 31 ballistic missiles, including six ICBM launches, and its efforts to reconstitute its nuclear test site were well underway,” U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said. “Let me be clear: Our lawful efforts to defend against the DPRK’s repeated escalatory actions do not in any way justify the DPRK’s unlawful behavior. … And long-range ballistic missile tests, like the one conducted last week, threaten not only the region but the entire world.”
The gridlock at the U.N. could not prevent Japanese Foreign Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa from expressing “grave concern” about North Korea’s missile tests at a working dinner with top diplomats from the G-7 — the bloc of the seven largest industrialized democracies. And the Japanese envoy led the group in issuing a warning to China.
“Minister Hayashi emphasized the importance of continuing dialogue with China … while also directly expressing our concerns and calling for China to act as a responsible member of the international community,” the Japanese Foreign Ministry said in a bulletin released after the Sunday dinner. “Following this, the G7 Foreign Ministers shared the view to oppose any unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force, as well as to reaffirm the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait as an indispensable element in security and prosperity in the international community and to call for the peaceful resolution of cross-Strait issues.”
The G-7 officials met as Russia conducted a series of military exercises in the Pacific, including drills to prepare for a clash over islands that Russia and Japan both have claimed since the Second World War.
“The objective to develop the navy, including on the Pacific theater of operations, remains relevant,” Putin told Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu in a public meeting Monday. “For this reason, I am asking you to make sure that these efforts carry on while paying special attention to developing other fleets, training troops, and holding similar events.”
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Chinese officials similarly announced that they will hold military exercises in the Yellow Sea, off the western coast of the Korean Peninsula, on Tuesday.
“For 13 years, China has been Russia’s main trade partner,” Li said. “While developing our relations, we realize the tremendous responsibility assumed by our states, especially in light of the fact that we are now seeing the most profound changes of the past 100 years.”