The Chinese Defense Ministry stated on Friday that the joint exercises with Russia currently ongoing in southern China are meant to boost the ties between the two countries and expand their ability to counter threats.
The ministry published a statement on its WeChat official account, outlining that the current exercises will last until the middle of July and will be aimed at "jointly countering maritime security threats and maintaining global and regional peace and stability."
Western countries have signaled they see expanding military cooperation between Moscow and Beijing with alarm and have accused China of assisting Russia in the Ukrainian conflict, with NATO recently calling the former country a "decisive enabler" of the war in Ukraine.
