China, Russia come together in biggest ever joint naval drills

BEIJING: China will join Russia later this week for its largest-ever naval drills with a foreign partner, underscoring deepening ties between the former Cold War rivals along with Beijing’s desire for closer links with regional militaries.

China has long been a key customer for Russian military hardware, but only in the last decade have their militaries begun taking part in joint exercises.

China’s defence ministry said on Tuesday that its navy will send four destroyers, two guided missile frigates, and a support ship for the ‘ Joint Sea-2013’ exercises, which start on Friday in the Sea of Japan and run through 12 July. 

The ships departed on Monday from the port of Qingdao, where China’s Northern Fleet is based, headed for the rallying point in Peter the Great Bay near Vladivostok. ‘This marks our navy’s single biggest deployment of military force in a China-foreign joint exercise,’ the ministry 

said.