This incident indicates that Sino-Russian military cooperation, which has ramped up in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, poses a serious threat to the rule-based world order, especially, to freedom-loving countries in the Asia-Pacific region. Japan and South Korea must bolster security ties with other regional powers, as well as with the US and NATO, to defend the status quo.
China and Russia are strengthening their ties, as evidenced by this lawful joint aerial strategic patrol. Both countries are taking a much-needed step toward promoting peace and stability in the region, while the US is saber-rattling over Taiwan, the Korean Peninsula, and the South China Sea to provoke a Ukraine-like crisis in the region. Western hegemony is undermining stability in the Asia-Pacific.
There’s a 1% chance that Japanese and Chinese armed forces will be involved in a deadly clash before 2024, according to the Metaculus prediction community.