While the US convened with regional partners to challenge Beijing and organise support against Moscow, Japan and South Korea said they scrambled jets on Tuesday as Russian and Chinese warplanes flew in formation around the area.
Later, China’s military ministry stated that its air force was conducting “regular cooperative aviation patrols” with Russia over the Sea of Japan, East China Sea, and western Pacific Ocean.
The Kremlin announced Monday that it will focus on expanding its ties with China after accusing the West of turning its back on the country.
“Our economic ties with China will grow even quicker now that the West has taken a ‘dictator’s posture,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a question-and-answer session in Moscow.
According to a translation on Russia’s foreign ministry’s website, Russia and China share a long border as well as mutual interests in “upholding the principles of fairness and multipolarity in international affairs.”
Russia will now rely “just on ourselves and on those countries that have demonstrated their reliability and do not ‘dance to the tune of someone else,'” according to Lavrov.
