Russia, China Hold Joint Naval Exercises
The second stage of Russia-China "Joint Sea 2015" maritime exercises are taking place on June 8-11 in Russia’s Far Eastern Primorsky Territory, according to a statement from the Russian Defense Ministry’s Eastern Military District press service.
The joint exercise will include troop landing practices and reconnaissance missions.
"As part of the upcoming joint Russian-Chinese naval drills, Joint Sea 2015 [II] at the firing range at Cape Klerk the airborne and amphibious landing will be practiced," Pacific Fleet’s spokesman Captain 1st Rank Roman Martov said.
On Tuesday, the Russian Defense Ministry said that officers from the Russian Eastern Military District, the Pacific Fleet Headquarters and representatives from the Chinese Navy held a reconnaissance mission at the Knevichi Airfield as part of the "Joint Sea 2015 (II)" naval exercise.
Russian and Chinese officers have completed reconnoitering the area at the Knevichi aerodrome, in the Primorye Territory, and also studied the places for landing marine infantry at the firing range of the Pacific Fleet near Cape Klerk, spokesman for Russia’s Eastern Military District, Colonel Alexander Gordeyev said.
Meanwhile, Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) is conducting a routine planned naval exercise in the Western Pacific this week, Xinhua reports.
Liang Yang, a military spokesperson of the PLAN stated that Chinese navy vessels and military aircraft passed through the eastern portion of the Bashi Channel, situated between Taiwan and the Philippines, this morning (June 11).
Chinese warships and aircraft on Wednesday passed through the Bashi Channel as Beijing's increasingly assertive territorial claims in the East and South China Sea have raised tensions in the region and Washington.
Japan and the Philippines also plan to hold a joint maritime drill later this month near the South China Sea, local media sources reported.
China claims almost 90 percent of the South China Sea. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei have rival claims to the area. China also claims Taiwan as its own and has never renounced the use of force to gain control.
