China’s growing military cooperation with Russia aimed at countering US in Indo-Pacific region

Following the news that China conducted a joint naval drill with Russia in the Sea of Japan, Udayini Aakunoor, Defense Analyst at GlobalData, a data and analytics company, offers her view: “The Northern/Interaction-2023 naval exercise undertaken by China and Russia appears to be a reciprocation to the recent naval missile defence exercise conducted jointly by Japan, South Korea, and the US in the East Sea. Such military exercises will enable China and Russia to exchange best practices, develop new tactics and strategies, and enhance the level of interoperability among their respective armed forces. “The People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) is on a massive modernisation spree and has undertaken a wide range of surface vessel and submarine procurement programs in recent years, mainly to match the US Navy’s capabilities. Over the last decade, China has established a robust defence equipment manufacturing and shipbuilding infrastructure, which has played a pivotal role in increasing its naval fleet size, while reducing its technological and operational capability gap with the US Navy. “China is anticipated to spend approximately $51 billion on the procurement of new surface combatants over the next 10 years. Similarly, PLAN is also augmenting its submarine fleet with the acquisition of next-generation submarines including the Sui-class (Type 095) Nuclear-Powered Attack Submarine (SSN) and Tang-class (Type 096) Nuclear-Powered Ballistic Missile Submarine (SSBN). It is expected to spend around $25 billion on submarine procurement programs from 2023 to 2033. “The rapid expansion of the PLAN, along with increasing naval cooperation with the Russia Navy, is expected to present significant security challenge for the US and its allies in the Indo-Pacific region. The growing China-Russia military ties have also compelled other major regional military powers, such as India, Australia, and Japan, to initiate naval fleet modernisation programs to counter PLAN’s fleet expansion.” For Editorial Inquiries Contact: Editor Kym Bergmann at [email protected] For Advertising Inquiries Contact: Director of Sales Graham Joss at [email protected]