NORTHERN-INTERACTION-2023
- DEFENCE AND SECURITY
News:
China, Russia to kick off
air, navy drills in East Sea
What's
in the news?
● A
Chinese naval flotilla set off to join Russian naval and air forces in the Sea of Japan in an exercise aimed at
“safeguarding the security of strategic waterways”, according to China’s
defence ministry.
Key
takeaways:
● Codenamed
“Northern-Interaction-2023”, the drill marks enhanced military cooperation between China and Russia since
Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and is taking place as Beijing continues to rebuff
U.S. calls to resume military communication.
Northern-Interaction-2023:
● Northern-Interaction-2023
military drills are organized by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Northern
Theatre Command in the central Sea of Japan.
● The
event marks Russia's second time participating in the PLA annual strategic
drills, and also a first that Russia has dispatched both naval and air forces
to participate in similar events.
Theme
- "Safeguarding the safety of strategic maritime routes".
Go
back to basics:
Sea
of Japan:
● The
Sea of Japan (East Sea) is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean.
● It
is located in Eastern Asia that is
bounded by Japan and Sakhalin Island to the east and by Russia and Korea on the
Asian mainland to the west.
● Its
area is 377,600 square miles (978,000 square km).
● The
sea itself lies in a deep basin, separated from the East China Sea to the south
by the Tsushima and Korea straits
and from the Sea of Okhotsk to the north by the La Perouse (or Sōya) and Tatar
straits.
● To
the east it is also connected with the Inland Sea of Japan by the Kanmon Strait and to the Pacific by the
Tsugaru Strait.
● It
influences the climate of Japan because of its relatively warm waters.