Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on December 9, 2025
1 min readLast updated: January 20, 2026
China and Russia conducted a joint air patrol over the East China Sea and western Pacific, prompting South Korea to scramble jets as planes entered its air defence zone.
BEIJING, Dec 9 (Reuters) - China and Russia carried out their 10th joint strategic air patrol over the East China Sea and western Pacific on Tuesday, China's defence ministry said in a statement.
The ministry said the patrol was under an annual cooperation plan between the two militaries.
The announcement came after South Korea said it had scrambled fighter jets when Chinese and Russian military planes entered and left its air defence zone on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Beijing Newsroom; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
The East China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean, located east of China and bordered by several countries, including Japan and Taiwan.
The western Pacific is a region of the Pacific Ocean that lies west of the International Date Line, encompassing areas near East Asia, Southeast Asia, and Oceania.
A strategic air patrol involves military aircraft conducting surveillance and reconnaissance missions to monitor airspace and ensure national security.
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