The war in Ukraine is increasingly dividing the industrialized world into two opposing camps. One consists of the Western nations, and the other of China and Russia. The latest sign of this division is the fact that the Chinese and Russian navies have begun joint exercises in the Sea of Japan.
The exercise, named Joint Sea 2025, began off the coast of the city of Vladivostok in Russia’s Far East. The drills include submarine rescue, anti-submarine warfare, air defense, and missile defense exercises. While China and Russia have conducted joint military drills before, there have also been significant disagreements between them in the past.
However, as Russia has become increasingly dependent on Chinese support due to the war in Ukraine, the cooperation has deepened. According to China's Ministry of Defense, the purpose of the newly launched exercises is to "further deepen the comprehensive strategic partnership."
This is something the West should take seriously. Although Russia has proven to be a paper tiger in conventional warfare in Ukraine, it remains the world’s second most powerful nuclear state. Furthermore, it's important to remember that China's actual military capability has not truly been tested since the Korean War—making it a significant unknown.
In solving this unknown, it's crucial to recognize that China has made giant leaps forward both technologically and economically. It would not be a major surprise if China’s military capability turned out to be strong enough to challenge even the United States.
All of this is one reason why the West must continue to develop its own military capabilities and technical proficiency. After all, it would be a major humanitarian catastrophe if the current, even partially free, world were to become subordinate to superpowers based on dictatorial authoritarianism.
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I think Mr. Professor forgots the China-Vietnam border war in 1979. In my understanding, by that time the Chinese army was not up the task.
ReplyDeleteAfter the experience China begun a rapid economical development.
Thank you for pointing this out. The war in 1979, however, was very short, and technologically advanced Western troops were not involved.
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