With ships and submarines are preparing for combat scenarios, the "Joint Sea-2013" naval drill between China and Russia on Monday entered its third day near the Russian Far Eastern port of Vladivostok.
The People's Liberation Army (PLA) Daily, the flagship newspaper of China's armed forces, reported Monday that all preparations have been finished for the combat drill.
Duan Zhaoxian, vice chief of staff of Chinese navy, stated that both sides have fully shared details of the combat drill, with command systems running well and equipments and weapons debugged.
During the combat scenarios, the two armies will cooperate and coordinate on anti-submarine and anti-ship operations, maritime air defense, escorts, and marine search and rescue operations.
In the first two days of the drill, the joint command, comprising both Chinese and Russian officials, assigned missions for both sides, aiming at improving communication and cooperation between the Chinese and Russian sides, the Xinhua News Agency reported Monday.
The PLA Daily also carried a commentary Monday calling on troops to fear no sacrifice in peaceful times. "Despite the rapid development of science and technology and that ensuing military reforms have sparked changes in the nature of war, courage and uprightness are still indispensable in modern warfare," the commentary said.
The Tokyo-based news portal ribenxinwen.com reported that the Japan Self Defense Forces and the US army stationed in Japan would jointly manage a united air patrol drill in the Hokkaido area from Monday to Friday, while China and Russia are carrying out drills in the Sea of Japan near the island.
"We are very confident that we can clearly know the overall process of China and Russia's joint drill," one official from the Japanese Defense Ministry told the news portal.
"Russia chose the Sea of Japan as the place for the drill is because it has territorial disputes there with Japan," Wang Lijiu, a researcher on China-Russia relations with the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, told the Global Times.
"Obviously, Japan feels threatened and challenged and this joint air patrol has a strong military purpose," Wang added.
Global Times - Agencies