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Chinese, Russian warships in 'show of solidarity' near Alaska

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Minnie Chan, South China Morning Post

<ul>	<li><strong>Vessels were discovered by a US Coast Guard ship on routine patrol in the Bering Sea last week</strong></li>	<li><strong>Analysts say they were asserting freedom of navigation and it was also aimed at showing ‘strategic convergence’</strong></li></ul><p>A US Coast Guard ship on routine patrol in the Bering Sea near Alaska last week came across Chinese and Russian warships conducting a joint operation that analysts say was a &quot;show of solidarity&quot;.</p><p>The crew of the Kimball, a Honolulu-based cutter, first discovered a Chinese guided-missile cruiser about 75 nautical miles north of Kiska Island, Alaska, in the United States exclusive economic zone on September 19, the Coast Guard said on Monday.</p><div><script src="https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&amp;version=v2.5" async="" type="text/javascript"></script></div><div class="fb-post" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=475362827969316&amp;set=a.242236537948614" data-width="auto"> </div><p>Kiska is part of the Aleutian Islands and lies roughly 2,000km (1,300 miles) southwest of Anchorage and about 1,100km (700 miles) from Russia.</p><p>The US Coast Guard said the Kimball crew later identified another two Chinese naval ships in formation with four Russian naval vessels - including a Russian frigate - operating as a &quot;combined surface action group&quot; within the US zone.</p><p>It said the operation could have been part of joint naval drills following Russia&#x27;s week-long Vostok 2022 war games that ended on September 7.</p><p>The Kimball was monitoring the area in accordance with Operation Frontier Sentinel, which aims &quot;to meet presence with presence when strategic competitors operate in and around US waters&quot;, the US Coast Guard said.</p><p>Zhou Chenming, a researcher from the Beijing-based Yuan Wang military science and technology think tank, said the Russian and Chinese navies appeared to be conducting &quot;a so-called freedom of navigation operation that the American navy carries out across the globe, including the Taiwan Strait and other open seas&quot;.</p><p>He noted that at 4,500 tonnes, the Kimball cutter was much smaller than the 11,000-tonne Chinese destroyer Nanchang and also the 6,200-tonne Russian frigate Marshal Shaposhnikov - both of which were among the group, according to early reports.</p><p>Zhou said this was &quot;the correct practice to prevent any misjudgment or misunderstanding&quot;.</p><p>A Chinese guided missile frigate, the Yancheng, and Dongpinghu supply ship were also reportedly part of the joint operation, which was also said to include three Russian corvettes and a tanker.</p><p>Collin Koh, a research fellow at the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies at Singapore&#x27;s Nanyang Technological University, said it was a show of &quot;strategic convergence and solidarity&quot;.</p><p>&quot;Especially when Beijing has been talking about a &#x27;no limits&#x27; relationship while Moscow has to date expressed much greater willingness for closer security cooperation,&quot; he said.</p><p>Koh said it was also aimed at asserting their freedom of navigation, &quot;somewhat along the lines of what China and Russia have individually been practicing&quot;.</p><p>The Moscow Times said in an earlier report that China and Russia&#x27;s joint naval drills involved live-fire training and helicopter deck flights in the Pacific, and had shown that the two countries &quot;pursue a &#x27;no limits&#x27; relationship to counter the global dominance of the US and its regional allies&quot;.</p><div><strong>Copyright (c) 2022. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=1658270" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

A US Coast Guard ship on routine patrol in the Bering Sea near Alaska last week came across Chinese and Russian warships conducting a joint operation that analysts say was a “show of solidarity”.

Chinese, Russian warships in 'show of solidarity' near Alaska

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Chinese, Russian warships in 'show of solidarity' near Alaska

Minnie Chan,

South China Morning Post

Published Sep 28, 2022 08:42 AM PHT

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Updated Sep 28, 2022 09:10 AM PHT

Read More:

china

russia

alaska

united states

bering sea

SCMP

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