China and Russia to conduct naval exercise in Yellow Sea

Staff Reporter; 2012-04-01

http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?id=20120401000065&cid=1101

The navies of China and Russia will conduct a joint exercise in the Yellow Sea between April 22 and 29, reports our sister newspaper Want Daily.

According to Rear Admiral Leonid Sukhanov, the Russian Navy's deputy chief of staff, Russia's Pacific fleet will send 10 warships, led by its Varyag guard missile cruiser, to attend the exercise with China's North Sea fleet. (The cruiser is a different ship from the Chinese-owned aircraft carrier also called Varyag.) The joint exercise will begin at Vladivostok, Russia and end in Qingdao, China.

The war games are set to be the largest exercise the People's Liberation Army Navy has conducted in the western Pacific, said an article in Hong Kong-based newspaper Oriental Daily.

"The joint naval exercise will be held within the framework of strategic partnership principles agreed by leaders of both countries," Sukhanov said during an interview with the Chinese Communist Party-run People's Daily. "Armament, support, and protection systems will be practically tested, as well as command and control systems of Russian and Chinese armed forces."

Yang Yujun, spokesman for China's defense ministry, said that the joint naval exercise was agreed upon by both countries' top military officials when Chen Bingde, commanding general of the PLA's general staff department, visited Russia last year. According to official statements from both countries, the exercise aims to protect economic zones, improve cooperation and ensure the "stability" of China and Russia in East Asia.

Since 2005, China and Russia have conducted several joint military exercises under the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Other Central Asian countries — including Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan — have been asked to joint the war games set up by Beijing and Moscow in order to promote regional cooperation and curb the influence of the United States.

The latest exercise is believed to be a countermeasure against the US "return to Asia" and overall presence in the western Pacific. Many military analysts also see it as a response to joint military exercises regularly conducted by the US, Japan and South Korea in the Yellow Sea and Sea of Japan.