First wave of naval exercises
China and Russia began a joint naval exercise in the Yellow Sea off the coast of Qingdao in eastern China's Shandong province on Sunday. The drill, which is scheduled to last until Friday, will strengthen the two countries' anti-piracy and counter-terrorism cooperation and boost their maritime supply, rescue and assistance capabilities. They are the first Sino-Russian maritime military maneuvers outside the Shanghai Cooperation Organization framework.
Chen Bingde, chief of the General Staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, and his Russian counterpart Nikolai Makarov, agreed on the joint naval drill during his visit to Russia in August 2011, with the aim of deepening mutual understanding and trust between the two militaries.
Chen said that military-to-military cooperation is an important part of the China-Russia strategic partnership and the exercises will be the first of such drills by the two countries' navies.