INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
China and Russia conducted joint air force patrols over the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea on Tuesday, as South Korea said it had
deployed fighter jets in response to warplanes near its airspace.Beijing and Moscow "staged the sixth joint aerial patrol in accordance with
an annual military cooperation plan between China and Russia," the Chinese defense ministry said in a statement.The statement gave no
further details of the maneuvers, which took place over waters bordering Japan, the Korean peninsula and Taiwan.South Korea said four
Russian and four Chinese military aircraft had entered its air defense identification zone (ADIZ) around lunchtime on Tuesday, prompting it
to scramble fighter planes.An ADIZ is an area wider than a country's airspace in which it tries to control aircraft for security reasons,
but the concept is not defined in any international treaty.The South Korean military "identified the Chinese and Russian jets before their
entry into the air identification zone," Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said."We deployed air force fighters to conduct tactical
steps in preparation in case of an emergency," it added.The eight foreign jets did not violate Seoul's airspace, the JCS said.The incident
comes after the defense ministers of South Korea, Japan and the United States on Saturday agreed to set up real-time data sharing on North
Korean missile launches by the end of the year.South Korea has supported Western sanctions on Russia over the war in Ukraine and has sent
humanitarian aid to Kyiv.But it is bound by its own regulations prohibiting the supply of lethal aid to countries in conflict.China says it
is a neutral party in the Ukraine war
It has been criticized by Western countries for refusing to condemn Moscow and for its close strategic partnership with Russia.In February,
Beijing released a paper calling for a "political settlement" to the conflict, which Western countries warned could enable Russia to hold
much of the territory it has seized in Ukraine.During a March summit in Moscow, Chinese leader Xi Jinping invited Russian President Vladimir
Putin to visit Beijing and the two leaders declared that ties were "entering a new era."Analysts say China holds the upper hand in the
relationship with Russia, and that its sway is growing as Moscow's international isolation deepens.Beijing and Moscow were Cold War allies
with a tempestuous relationship but in recent years have drawn closer, especially in the economic and military realms.Both countries have
touted what they call a "no-limits" partnership and played up what they frame as a close friendship between presidents Xi and Putin.
