On Wednesday, the Russian army announced that Russia and China would carry out joint air patrols in the Asia-Pacific region, amid conflict in Ukraine and rivalry between Beijing and Washington.
For its part, the South Korean army announced that it took off warplanes after six Russian and Chinese warplanes entered its air defense zone without warning. It added that the planes eventually left the area and did not violate South Korean airspace.
According to a statement from the Russian Defense Ministry, a squadron of Russian and Chinese strategic bombers “carried out an air patrol over the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea.”
The Russian Ministry stated that the joint flight took about eight hours, and at some stages of its path, the Russian and Chinese bombers were “accompanied by combat aircraft from foreign countries.”
The Russian ministry stressed that “no violation of foreign airspace was committed,” stressing that these patrols took place within the framework of the Russian-Chinese military cooperation plan for the year 2022 and “are not directed against third countries.”
The announcement comes against the backdrop of an increasingly growing shift from Russia to Asia, in the context of Moscow’s increasing isolation on the international stage and unprecedented Western sanctions targeting it over the conflict in Ukraine.
The leagues also come as the rivalry between China and the United States intensifies, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region where competition between Washington and Beijing is growing. Everyone wants to assert their influence, especially in the issue of North Korea, of which China is the main ally while Washington is the main ally of South Korea.
Korean and Japanese reactions
According to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), Chinese H-6 bombers repeatedly entered and exited the Korea Air Defense Identification Zone (KADIZ), near the coasts of southern and northeastern South Korea, early Wednesday.
The country added that it returned hours later to the area from the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan, accompanied by Russian military aircraft, including two SU-35 fighters and four TU-95 bombers. .
“Our army deployed combat aircraft of the Air Force even before the Chinese and Russian aircraft entered the Cadiz region to take tactical measures in the event of the unexpected,” the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.
And in Japan, the General Staff confirmed that two Chinese H-6 bombers “entered the Sea of Japan and then flew north” on Wednesday morning. “Around the same time, two Russian planes apparently flew south over the Sea of Japan and then turned back,” he added, saying that two fighter jets took off in response.
The incident comes as Washington is pushing China to use its influence to help rein in North Korea, which has fired a record number of missiles this year.
Chinese President Xi Jinping recently offered North Korean leader Kim Jong-un cooperation to “accelerate peace” in the world.
Washington accuses China and Russia of protecting Pyongyang from any further sanctions.
And in May, the two countries vetoed a US initiative to toughen sanctions against North Korea in response to its previous missile strikes.
