Vladivostok, Russia – China and Russia launched their "Joint Sea-2025" naval drills in the Sea of Japan on Sunday, August 3, 2025, near the Russian port of Vladivostok, signaling a deepening of their strategic alliance to counter the perceived dominance of a U.S.-led global order. The three-day exercises, as outlined by China’s Ministry of National Defence, focus on submarine rescue operations, anti-submarine warfare, air defense, missile defense, and maritime combat drills.
The Chinese fleet includes four vessels, notably the guided-missile destroyers Shaoxing and Urumqi, joined by Russian ships such as the anti-submarine destroyer Admiral Tributs and the corvette Rezky. Post-drill, both nations will conduct joint patrols in designated Pacific waters, according to China’s defense ministry. The Russian Navy’s Pacific Fleet clarified that the exercises are defensive and not targeted at any third country, as reported by the US Naval Institute.
This year’s drills, a continuation of the annual "Joint Sea" series since 2012, follow last year’s exercises off China’s southern coast. On Friday, China’s Defense Ministry emphasized that the 2025 drills aim to bolster the “comprehensive strategic partnership” between Beijing and Moscow. This partnership has strengthened significantly since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, with China providing crucial economic support to Russia amid Western sanctions.
Japan’s Defense Ministry raised alarms last month over the growing military collaboration between China and Russia, warning of potential security threats to the region. While China claims neutrality in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, now in its fourth year, it has refrained from condemning Moscow’s actions and has accused Western nations of escalating the war by supplying arms to Ukraine. European leaders recently pressed China to leverage its influence to urge Russia to end the conflict, but Beijing has shown no indication of complying.
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