BEIJING, August 8. /TASS/. China’s People’s Liberation Army may step up measures similar to the recent China-Russia joint naval patrol near Alaska amid US inflammatory actions in the Asia-Pacific region, Chinese military expert Fu Qianshao said on Tuesday.
"In the future, the Chinese Navy could conduct more far sea patrols like this, either alone or together with other countries. The Americans should get used to it," the Global Times quoted Fu as saying in an article focused on the China-Russia joint naval patrol off Alaska.
The US is nervous when China and Russia conduct such naval maneuvers, the expert pointed out.
"But the US should not forget that it frequently sends warships and warplanes to other countries' doorsteps for so-called freedom of navigation operations, including to the South China Sea and the Taiwan Straits," Fu said.
The international waters in the North Pacific including the Bering Sea are strategically important because from there ships can access the Arctic, he explained.
"With the global warming, the Arctic shipping routes could become key passages for civilian ships to carry out commercial activities," Fu said.
As the press office of Russia’s Pacific Fleet reported earlier, Russian and Chinese combat ships practiced hunting down and destroying a notional enemy’s submarine in the southwestern part of the Bering Sea during their joint naval patrol. The naval sailors from both countries conducted tactical maneuvering, helicopter cross-landings and take-offs from the decks of combat ships, and also held communications training.
Russia’s naval group in the joint maneuvers involved the large anti-submarine warfare ships Admiral Tributs and Admiral Panteleyev, the missile corvettes Hero of the Russian Federation Aldar Tsydenzhapov and Gremyashchiy and the medium sea tanker Pechenega.
The Chinese Navy was represented in the joint maneuvers by the destroyers Qiqihar and Guiyang, the frigates Tongling and Rizhao and the comprehensive replenishment ship Taihu.