The now-annual “Joint Sea-2026” Russian-Chinese naval exercises have begun at the Qingdao City naval port in east China’s Shandong Province. China’s Ministry of Defense announced on July 5 that the exercises would involve mixed task groups of guided-missile cruisers and destroyers, frigates, rescue ships and a submarine from each nation. The Russian task group, led by the flagship of its Pacific Fleet, the guided-missile cruiser Varyag, is described by the Chinese Defense Ministry as “capable of long-range strike, anti-submarine warfare, and submarine rescue operations.”
The focus of the exercise is “joint response to maritime threats,” China’s Global Times reported. It includes joint operational planning and seminars in port, followed by at-sea exercises. When the exercise concludes, “some forces from both sides will conduct a joint maritime patrol in relevant areas of the Pacific Ocean,” it added.
Chinese military affairs expert Song Zhongping told Global Times that “both sides committed core operational naval forces to the exercise, underscoring the scale of the operation and its elevated level of realism and combat-oriented training.” Among the other goals of the joint exercise which he named were to “uphold the post-World War II international order … deter unilateral actions by certain countries,” and “resist historical revisionism,” the latter an unmistakable reference to the Western-backed revival of Japanese militarism.
