Russia says naval drills with China response to ‘aggressive’ US

Russia’s army chief on Thursday called joint naval drills between Russian and Chinese warships a response to increasingly aggressive US military posturing in the Asia-Pacific region.

“This cooperation is a natural reaction to the aggressive build-up of US military potential in the region... The exercises we are conducting are in strict accordance with international law,” Valery Gerasimov said in a briefing.

Russia announced it was dispatching several warships to join war games between December 21 and 27 off the coast of China to strengthen naval cooperation.