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Russia-China Joint Naval Drills

Why in News?

• Recently, Russia and China have begun a joint naval exercise in the East China Sea.

What are the Key Points of the Exercises?

• Firearms training and anti-submarine drills are part of it.
• The drills’ major objectives are to uphold peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific area and to improve naval cooperation between the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China.
• This joint exercise aims to strengthen the China-Russia comprehensive new age strategic partnership of coordination and show the two sides’ willingness and ability to work together to address maritime security concerns.
• Over the past year, Russia and China have also conducted many military exercises, including one in May 2022 during which the two nations flew bombers equipped with nuclear weapons.
• Then, in September 2022, there was a large-scale joint exercise with more than 2,000 Chinese soldiers, hundreds of military vehicles, combat planes, and warships.

What are India’s Exercises with China & Russia?

• China:
  • Exercise Hand-in-Hand:
    • The aim of the exercise is to practice joint planning and conduct of counter terrorist operations in semi urban terrain.
  • Russia:
    • Exercise Indra:
      • The exercise will entail the conduct of counter terror operations under the United Nations mandate by a joint force against international terror groups.
      • The INDRA series of exercises began in 2003 and was conducted as a bilateral naval exercise alternately between the two countries.
        • However, the first joint Tri-Services Exercise was conducted in 2017.
      • Exercise TSENTR:
        • Exercise TSENTR 2019 is one of a yearly slate of sizable drills that are a component of the Russian Armed Forces’ yearly training cycle.
        • The four primary Russian operational strategic commands—Vostok (East), Zapad (West), TSENTR (Centre), and Kavkas—are featured in a recurring fashion in the series (South).