Navies of China and Russia engage in joint maneuvers (VIDEO)

China and Russia kicked off week-long joint naval maneuvers on Thursday near the Chinese coast. Some of the training will take place closer to Taiwan than ever before in the history of the annual exercises, Chinese media have noted.

The two neighboring nations’ flotillas met up on Wednesday in the East China Sea, south of the South Korean island of Jeju, the Russian Defense Ministry reported. It released footage showing the warships sailing in formation parallel to each other.

The Chinese Defense Ministry said the two fleets held a brief opening ceremony for the ‘Maritime Interaction 2022’ exercise, before moving towards a designated training area. They are led by the Russian Slava-class missile cruiser Varyag, the flagship of the Russian Pacific Fleet, and the Chinese Type 052C destroyer Jinan respectively.