U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin confirmed on Thursday that Russian and Chinese bombers that came within 200 miles of the Alaskan coast this week were the first time they flew so close to U.S. territory together. This was reported by Politico, according to UNN.
The newspaper writes that the unprecedented exercise forced the United States and Canada to use F-35, F-16 and F-18 fighters to track the bombers.
The intercept, which NORAD announced Wednesday night, marked "the first time we've seen these two countries flying together like this. I think the closest point of convergence was about 200 miles off our coast
The flight raised alarm in Washington and Ottawa that Beijing and Moscow had found a new way to work together so close to North America. Austin said the bombers were tracked for most of their flight, and "this was not a surprise to us.
It is noted that although Russian planes often cross US airspace near Alaska, the joint flight demonstrates an increasingly assertive China and its expanding military relationship with Russia. The flight took place just hours before President Joe Biden was scheduled to deliver his State of the Union address.
On Thursday, Chinese Defense Ministry spokesperson Zhang Xiaogang told reporters in Beijing that the flight was the eighth "joint strategic air patrol" conducted by the two countries since 2019, and that the exercise "is not directed against any third party, is in line with international law and practice, and is not related to the current international and regional situation.
"This relationship is of concern to us mainly because we are concerned that China is supporting Russia's illegal and unnecessary war against Ukraine," Austin said, adding:
"We've seen evidence of this, and we hope it will stop in the future, but we'll see what happens and how these relationships develop.