At the same time the United States and South Korea linked up to stage military exercises in the Korean peninsula, China sent a fleet to conduct joint naval drills with Russia, up by the border the country shares with Kim Jong-Un's North. The Chinese/Russian exercises began on Monday, September 18, off of the southeastern port of Vladivostok and by Tuesday they had spread out into the Sea of Japan and the Okhotsk Sea.
While the Chinese and Russian state media cite the exercises as part of a regular joint sea program initiated in June, and deny that they were conducted as a provocation, they come at a time when tensions are high between the Kim Jong-Un regime and the West. They also coincidentally coincide with the convening of nations for the U.N. General Assembly in New York City, and follow calls from China and Russia for the U.S. and North Korea to deescalate the conflict.
The U.S. and South Korea facilitated bombing exercises via fighter jets. China and Russia, on the other hand, coordinated submarine exercises. Pyongyang's neighboring super powers are both looking to broker a deal by which Kim Jong-Un agrees to put his rocket firing drills to rest in exchange for an exit of the U.S.'s presence from the regional seas.
