![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/070726CHIRUS-EXERCISEphoto01.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\tRussian naval vessels arrive in the Chinese port city of Qingdao ahead of a joint exercise in this video posted online by China’s Ministry of National Defense on July 5, 2026. (China Ministry of National Defense)
\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
An annual exercise by the Chinese and Russian navies that began Monday represents a challenge this year to the international order upheld by the U.S. as its diplomatic and military prowess is in question, according to defense analysts.<\/p>\n
The Joint Sea exercise is taking place in the Yellow Sea off Qingdao, a port city in eastern China, according to a Sunday news release from China\u2019s Ministry of National Defense.<\/p>\n
After the exercise, the two navies \u201cwill conduct a joint maritime patrol in relevant areas of the Pacific Ocean,\u201d the release states.<\/p>\n
The exercise represents an \u201cimplicit challenge to a free and open Indo-Pacific,\u201d according to Mark Davidson, an assistant professor of Asian studies and political science at Temple University Japan.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Chinese and Russians are signaling their combined strength as Japan, South Korea and Taiwan \u201chave reason to question America\u2019s capabilities and resolve,\u201d he said by email Monday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe strategic quagmire of the American-Israeli war against Iran combined with the Trump administration\u2019s vacillations on aid to Ukraine and force drawdown in Europe have compromised America\u2019s diplomatic and military credibility,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The drills were first conducted in 2012, according to a June 9 Congressional Research Service report on Russian military activities in Asia.<\/p>\n
Taken as a whole, the annual drills \u201cmake it more likely the two regimes might decide to pull the trigger against the West and other free nations \u2026 either individually or collectively,\u201d said Grant Newsham, a retired Marine colonel and senior researcher with the Japan Forum for Strategic Studies in Tokyo.<\/p>\n
\u201cChina has been clear about its intentions in the Asia-Pacific \u2014 to dominate and control the region and drive the Americans out,\u201d Newsham said by email Monday. \u201cTaking Taiwan is part of this strategy and Joint-Sea 2026 is just one piece of the puzzle as China tightens the noose and expands its regional influence.\u201d<\/p>\n
China has vowed to reunite self-governing Taiwan with the mainland, by force if necessary.<\/p>\n
The exercise runs through July 13, according to an article Sunday in Russian state-run media RIA. Russian ships participating in the exercise include the cruiser Varyag, the corvette Rezkiy, the diesel-electric submarine Ufa and the rescue vessel Igor Belousov.<\/p>\n
Chinese missile destroyers Kaifeng and Anshan, the missile frigate Wuhu, the comprehensive supply ship Kekexilihu, the submarine rescue ship Yangchenghu and an unnamed submarine will participate, according to a separate release Sunday on the China Defense Ministry\u2019s Chinese-language website.<\/p>\n
The exercise will include courtesy meetings, joint planning sessions, professional exchanges, joint reconnaissance, air defense, missile defense and anti-ship strike exercises, according to that release.<\/p>\n
The drills also appear to involve \u201ccognitive warfare\u201d to unsettle Japanese public opinion and disrupt strategic calculations by \u201cintroducing the Russian factor,\u201d according to Junjiro Shida, a senior associate professor of international studies at Meio University.<\/p>\n
As Japan revises its three security documents focusing on a potential Taiwan contingency, it must \u201ccarefully consider the impact of traditional security challenges and threats \u2014 such as North Korea and Russia \u2014 that existed long before China\u2019s rise,\u201d he said by email Monday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Russian naval vessels arrive in the Chinese port city of Qingdao ahead of a joint exercise in this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":53759,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[35845,35844,8,35847,35848,35846],"class_list":["post-53758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-japan","tag-china-naval-exercise","tag-china-russia-exercise","tag-japan","tag-kaifeng","tag-quingdao","tag-russia-naval-exercise"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53758","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53758"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53758\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}