China conducts joint air patrol with Russia; South Korea scrambles warplanes
China and Russia have carried out a joint air patrol over the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea, a move that prompted South Korea to scramble its warplanes.
China's defense ministry said the patrol on Tuesday was part of the two militaries' annual cooperation plan.
South Korea said it scrambled fighter jets after four Russian and four Chinese military aircraft entered its air defense zone in the south and east of the Korean peninsula.
In China’s last aerial patrol with Russia in November, Seoul also scrambled fighter jets after Chinese H-6K bombers and Russian TU-95 bombers and SU-35 fighter jets entered its Air Defense Identification Zone (KADIZ).
And last year in May, the two conducted their joint aerial patrol while Japan was hosting a Quad summit with the leaders of the United States, India and Australia.
Japan also said back then that Chinese and Russian warplanes neared its airspace. China, however, said the flights were not directed at third parties.
Russia and China have expanded cooperation in the past two years, driven by the mutual desire to counterbalance American global dominance.
Moscow and Beijing plan to regularly organize joint maritime and air patrols in efforts to “deepen military mutual trust” with Russia to help ensure international justice and make new contributions to international and regional security, China has said.
Tuesday’s aerial patrol was conducted a week after the coast guards of the US, Japan and the Philippines held their first trilateral naval exercise in the South China Sea.
The White House also accused Beijing of showing a growing aggressiveness after a series of encounters occurred between US and Chinese forces in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, which according to the US raises the risk of an error in which “somebody gets hurt”.
The US released a video at the weekend, showing a Chinese fighter jet passing in front of a US plane’s nose, with the cockpit of the RC-135 shaking in the turbulence caused by the flight.
China's Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin reacted to the White House statement. He said on Tuesday, “US military ships and aircraft have traveled thousands of miles to provoke China at its doorstep.”
"Insisting on conducting close reconnaissance and flexing its muscles near China's territorial waters and airspace is not safeguarding freedom of navigation, but promoting of navigation hegemony and is a blatant military provocation," he said.
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