Russia and China Flex Naval Power Near US Pacific Ally

Chinese warships were observed transiting northward near Japan as Russia conducted a large-scale naval exercise spanning the Northern Hemisphere, including the Pacific Ocean.

Newsweek has contacted defense ministries in Beijing and Moscow for comment via email.

Why It Matters

The Chinese navy—the world’s largest by hull count—has regularly conducted war games and patrols with its Russian counterpart as part of Beijing’s efforts to bolster its “unlimited partnership” with Moscow and challenge U.S. naval dominance across the Western Pacific.

Japan, which plays a key role in an island chain strategy aimed at containing the United States’ adversaries in the Western Pacific, has been tracking Chinese military aircraft and vessels operating near its territory—including a dual aircraft carrier deployment in June.

What To Know

The Joint Staff of Japan’s Defense Ministry reported that three Chinese vessels—two destroyers and one supply ship—passed through the Tsushima Strait on Thursday, entering the Sea of Japan (known as the East Sea in South Korea) from the East China Sea.

The Sea of Japan borders the Korean Peninsula to the west, the Japanese archipelago to the east, and the Russian Far East to the north, where Russia’s Pacific Fleet is based in Vladivostok.

Based on their hull numbers, the Chinese ships were identified as the Type 052D destroyers CNS Shaoxing and CNS Urumqi, and the Type 903 replenishment ship CNS Qiandaohu.

It remains unclear whether this Chinese naval flotilla was deployed for Russia’s July Storm exercise—which commenced on Wednesday and is scheduled to end on Sunday—taking place across the Pacific and Arctic Oceans, as well as the Baltic and Caspian Seas.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the exercise involves the Northern, Pacific and Baltic Fleets, as well as the Caspian Flotilla. More than 150 naval vessels, 120 aircraft, 10 coastal defense missile systems, and over 15,000 military personnel are participating.

China’s possible involvement in the Russian naval exercise coincides with the U.S. military’s simultaneous participation in two ongoing drills in the Pacific—the Air Force’s Resolute Force Pacific 2025 and the Australia-hosted, multinational Talisman Sabre 2025.

What People Are Saying

Japan’s 2025 defense white paper notes: “China has been swiftly increasing its national defense expenditures, thereby extensively and rapidly enhancing its military capability in a qualitative and quantitative manner and intensifying its activities in the East China Sea…and the Pacific…Russia has also been observed engaging in joint activities with China involving aircraft and vessels.”

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Beijing on July 13: “China-Russia relations represent the most stable, mature and strategically valuable major-country relationship in the world today. The two sides have always viewed and advanced bilateral cooperation in various fields from a historical depth, strategic height, and long-term perspective.”

What Happens Next

Japan is likely to detect Russian naval activity in waters near its territory during Exercise July Storm. If China’s participation in the exercise is confirmed, naval forces from both Russia and China may conduct a joint patrol in the Western Pacific to demonstrate their cooperation.