Russia and China are scheduled to hold joint military drills in the waters and airspace of the Sea of Japan, Bejing's Defense ministry announced. Photo courtesy of WikiCommons

BEIJING, Aug. 3 (UPI) -- Russia and China are scheduled to hold joint military drills in the waters and airspace of the Sea of Japan, Bejing's Defense Ministry announced.

The exercises are set to take place Aug. 20-28 in the Peter the Great Gulf and other areas of the Russian coast, reported The BRICS Post.


The drills are designed "to improve China's and Russia's capacity in coping with maritime security threats. Navies of the the two countries will join forces to simulate anti-submarine combat, air defense and other relevant missions," Defense Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun told reporters last week.

Yang accused the United States on Friday of playing double standards with regard to its criticism of China's construction projects on a host of islands based in the South China Sea.

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"The U.S. side disregards and distorts the facts and plays up China's military threat to sow discord between China and the littoral states in the South China Sea. We firmly oppose such actions," added Yang.

China, Vietnam and the Philippines lay claim to these waters, but China exercises jurisdiction.

The construction of artificial islands in the Spratly archipelago, for instance, has sparked protests from Indonesia and the Philippines. These two countries have already conducted joint military drills with the United States, reported Sputnik News.

"Business cooperation in the naval sphere plays an important role in the development of trusting strategic bilateral relations," the Chinese Defense Ministry reiterated to Sputnik News last week.

On Thursday, the Russian Pacific Fleet also successfully test launched a missile system in the Sea of Japan, according to news reports.