China, Russia begin naval drills in waters near Taiwan, Japan

Exercise is being held off Zhejiang in the East China Sea – the closest it’s been held to the Taiwan Strait, and also close to Japanese waters
Analysts say the week-long annual war games aim to send a message to Taipei, as well as to Tokyo over its new security strategy

China’s military

Minnie Chan

Published: 8:00pm, 21 Dec 2022

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China and Russia kicked off a week of naval drills in the East China Sea on Wednesday, the closest they have been held to the Taiwan Strait since the annual war games began a decade ago.

China’s defence ministry said the exercise, known as Joint Sea 2022, would be held in waters off the coast of eastern Zhejiang province. The area spans from Zhoushan to Taizhou, which is about 350km (about 200 miles) from the Taiwan Strait.

Military analysts said the drills aimed to send a message to self-ruled Taiwan – which Beijing regards as part of China – as well as to Japan over a new security strategy to boost its military strength unveiled last week.

China has sent five warships – two destroyers, two frigates and a supply ship – and a submarine, as well as early warning aircraft, an anti-submarine patrol plane and ship-borne helicopters to take part in this week’s drills, according to a report in military mouthpiece PLA Daily on Wednesday.

Russia’s defence ministry on Monday said a detachment of its Pacific Fleet had left the far eastern port of Vladivostok on the weekend to join the exercise. It included a missile cruiser, the Marshal Shaposhnikov anti-submarine destroyer, two corvettes, a supply ship and aircraft.

“The Marshal Shaposhnikov is the largest and most powerful anti-submarine destroyer in the Russian navy, meaning anti-submarine exercises will be a key part of the drills,” according to Beijing-based naval expert Li Jie.

Li said that could be a response to Taiwan’s indigenous submarine programme, noting that the exterior of the first vessel in the fleet appeared to resemble the design of Japan’s Soryu-class submarine, according to openly available information.

“As well as the exterior design, Taiwan’s indigenous submarines will also use lithium batteries – like Japan’s Soryu-class sub, which suggests Tokyo may have transferred some of its submarine technologies to Taipei,” Li said.

Taiwan’s navy is expected to take delivery of its first locally built submarine by September 2024 – a year ahead of schedule – after the first and most important phase of construction was completed in 2021.

The Varyag missile cruiser, from Russia’s Pacific Fleet, on its way to join the exercise. Photo: AP

Zhou Chenming, a researcher with the Yuan Wang military science and technology think tank in Beijing, said the joint war games were mainly aimed at Japan over the changes to its defence and national security strategy. The move will see Japan’s security budget reach 2 per cent of gross domestic product by 2027 – double the informal cap of 1 per cent of GDP that has been in place since 1976.

“Japan’s increased defence spending is obviously aimed at Beijing – that’s why the location for the China-Russia military drills is the East China Sea, which is also close to Japanese waters,” Zhou said.

According to the PLA Daily report, the war games will include a joint blockade and air defence exercises with rockets and artillery fire, as well as rescue and anti-submarine drills. It said the exercises aimed to “further deepen” cooperation and highlighted the two sides’ determination to deal with maritime security threats and safeguard international and regional peace and stability.