After Obama Visit, Planned Naval Drills With Russia

China and Russia will soon hold joint naval exercises near islands disputed by Beijing and Tokyo in the East China Sea, the Jinghua Times newspaper reported on Thursday, quoting China’s Ministry of National Defense.

The Beijing-based newspaper did not say how close the exercises would be to the islands, called the Diaoyu by China and the Senkaku by Japan, stating only that they would be to the “northwest.” It gave a time frame as “the last 10 days of May.”

 The exercises, called Maritime Cooperation 2014, may exacerbate tensions in the region. On his just-concluded trip to Asia, President Obama said the United States recognized Japan’s administration of the islands, a statement the newspaper said had angered China. It quoted a military analyst as saying it was no coincidence that the Ministry of National Defense mentioned the planned exercises “the day after Obama left Asia.”


 President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia is due in China on May 20 to take part in a meeting in Shanghai of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia, a multinational forum, the news website tsrus.cn reported.

 Mr. Putin will then travel to Beijing for a state visit, which will conclude on May 21, according to the Chinese state media. A major item on his agenda is a long-awaited, and potentially large, energy-for-investment deal with China.

 Jinghua Times reported that the exercises would involve more than 20 ships — including guided-missile cruisers, guided-missile destroyers and guided-missile escort vessels, as well as “conventional submarines” — and were part of a larger series of joint military exercises between China and Russia. Separately, CCTV, the state broadcaster, said that senior Russian military officials were in China to finalize details of the exercises.

 Jinghua Times quoted a researcher at China’s naval military research institute, Li Jie, as saying that Mr. Obama’s trip to Asia had left China “extremely dissatisfied” because of his clear demonstration of “one-sidedness.”

 On his visit, Mr. Obama reassured Japan that under the terms of its treaty obligations, the United States would defend the Senkakus. In the Philippines, he signed a 10-year agreement to expand the United States military’s use of Philippine bases and other facilities.

 Mr. Obama’s statement on treaty obligations to Japan and the Philippines base agreement were a “severe challenge” to China’s territorial integrity and oceanic interests, said Mr. Li.

 The announcement of the Chinese-Russian exercises, so soon after Mr. Obama left Asia, and the chosen site near the islands were not a coincidence, he said. Military exercises, including joint exercises, he said, underline China’s determination to assert its sovereignty and serve as a warning and deterrence to the United States.

 The exercises are also significant for Russia, whose relations with the United States and the European Union have deteriorated, he said, because of its de facto seizure of Crimea and the current instability in Ukraine. At such a moment, he said, Russia is turning to China to strengthen strategic and military cooperation.