While President Trump was threatening to “totally destroy North Korea” this week in his address to the United Nations, the navies of Russia and China were engaged a maritime joint exercise less than 100 miles from the North Korean border with Russia.
The Russia-China exercises were the second this year and part of the so-called Joint-Sea 2017 program. The first drills in the exercise were held in the Baltic Sea in July and were closely watched by NATO and European countries, who were already on edge about Russia’s recent military muscle-flexing.
This week’s drills started in the Russian Far East port city of Vladivostok, home base of the Russian Pacific Fleet, and will continue for eight days on both land and sea. Submarine rescue and anti-submarine drills will take place in the Sea of Japan and spread into the Sea of Okhotsk, just north of Japan.
While Russia and China have been holding joint military exercises since 2012, the timing of this part of the Joint-Sea 2017 drills is significant. Washington’s rhetoric has become increasingly hostile toward the North Korean government as it has continued to disregard demands that it halt testing of nuclear weapons. Both Moscow and Beijing have significant economic interests in North Korea and have thus far had subdued responses to calls from the White House for stepped-up action against North Korea.
http://www.latimes.com/world/la-un-general-assembly-live-updates-while-trump-threatens-to-destroy-1506014766-htmlstory.html
