MOSCOW, December 6. /TASS/. Moscow and Beijing will intensify their military and technical cooperation in response to NATO’s actions, a Russian expert said on Tuesday.
Addressing an international forum of experts, diplomats and decision-makers, Director of the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies at the Higher School of Economics Vasily Kashin said the defense industry and relations between the armed forces of Russia and China were a sphere where bilateral relations had progressed the most.
"Amid [Russia’s] special military operation [in Ukraine], Russia has been supplying China as part of the continued military and technical cooperation. Cooperation in the industrial sphere aimed at sustaining Russia’s production base in the wake of the country’s split with the West has been increasingly important. And the role of exactly these domains will likely rise, and cooperation will be expanded," Kashin told the Primakov Readings. "This will be part of our response to NATO’s military role globally and the alliance’s rise in the Asia-Pacific region," he explained.
However, this does not mean that the parties will be seeking to formalize some new relations in the military-political field, he said. "The available contracts and agreements that we have already signed have enabled us to put into practice any forms of practical cooperation on specific defense issues," the expert concluded.
And there have been somewhat more bilateral events this year, Kashin added. "We have already conducted two joint patrols involving bombers, and a joint patrol using warships was held. Joint military exercises have been held, too," he said.