by Nobuhiro Kubo, Michael Martina and Hyonhee Shin
(Reuters) – The Russian and Chinese air forces have conducted a joint patrol in the Far East, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Tuesday, as U.S. President Joe Biden wraps up a visit to Asia marked by statements about Taiwan that have deeply annoyed Beijing.
Russian Tu-95 and Chinese Xian H-6 strategic bombers flew for 13 hours over the seas of China and Japan, the Russian ministry said in a statement.
Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi called the joint exercise a “provocation”, while a US official said it demonstrated the extent of Sino-Russian military cooperation.
Japan sent fighter jets to meet Russian and Chinese aircraft as they approached Japanese airspace while a meeting of “Quad” was taking place in Tokyo, the alliance of the United States, Japan, Australia and India, said Nobuo Kishi.
This is the fourth time since November that such an incident has occurred, he added.
South Korea has also sent fighter jets to escort Chinese and Russian planes.
In Beijing, the Ministry of Defense confirmed that it had conducted a patrol over the Sea of Japan, the East China Sea and the Western Pacific as part of an annual military exercise with Russia.
According to a US official, it was the first joint exercise between the two countries since the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, and Beijing wanted to demonstrate its support for Moscow while Joe Biden said he was ready to use the force to defend Taiwan against a possible Chinese attack.
(Report by Nobuhiro Kubo and Satoshi Sugiyama in Tokyo, Michael Martina in Washington, Hyonhee Shin and Josh Smith in Seoul, French version Tangi Salaün, edited by Sophie Louet)