Joint Sea 2013 July 5 -12,2013

Russia and China(PRC) held their largest joint naval exercises in the Sea of Japan.The warships from the Russian Pacific Fleet and the North Sea Fleet of the People's Liberation Army Navy(PLAN or PLA Navy,the Naval Branch of PRC) participated in Joint Sea 2013 between July 5-12,2013

Code-named Joint Sea 2013, the joint naval drills were the largest in the history of the two countries and saw the Chinese Navy’s “single biggest deployment of military force in any joint foreign exercise,” according to the Chinese Defence Ministry

The Russian Far East, which constitutes 40 per cent of the country’s territory, has a shrinking population of 6.5 million, whereas three Chinese regions across the border have 140 million people. Demographic pressures and a growing shortage of resources will eventually prompt China to train its sights on its northern neighbour, experts warn, all the more so since China still considers vast territories in the Russian Far East as unfairly annexed from it in the 19th century

Under a sweeping military reform currently under way in Russia, the Defence Ministry has taken extra efforts to beef up its forces in the East. When Russia’s seven military districts were pared down to four commands in 2010, the Eastern District was redrawn so as to hand it responsibility for the entire 4,300-km border with China. Today it is the largest military command and it is being rearmed on a priority basis

Note
Over the past two decades, Russia and China have dramatically strengthened their ties. They resolved their long-running border disputes, increased bilateral trade from $5 billion in 2000 to nearly $90 billion in 2012