Indo-Pacific — 2026-07-28

Joint Russian Chinese Navy Patrol Sails Near Japan as Pentagon Reports to Congress on PLA Capabilities

BLUFBeijing and Moscow very likely will close a full circumnavigation of Japan by early August, converting a 2021 novelty into a repeatable surveillance burden that ties down JMSDF assets each summer.

Japan's Joint Staff Office reported over the weekend that a four-ship China-Russia patrol, PLAN cruiser CNS Anshan, destroyer CNS Kaifeng, fleet oiler CNS Kekexilihu and Russian corvette RFS Rezkiy, transited waters south of Hokkaido, tracked from off Cape Inubo on Thursday to roughly 300 kilometers southeast of Cape Nosappu by Saturday, shadowed by JMSDF destroyers Samidare and Suzunami with P-3C aircraft 1. The formation departed Qingdao after the July 6-13 "Joint Sea-2026" exercise, and Kaifeng had conducted a July 19 live-fire drill inside Japan's claimed EEZ around Okinotori, drawing a Japanese protest that China's Foreign Ministry rejected, calling Okinotori a rock rather than an island under UNCLOS 12. Global Times quoted Chinese commentator Song Zhongping saying the task group has completed roughly two-thirds of a circumnavigation of Japan and will likely continue through the Tsugaru or Soya Strait into the Sea of Japan 2.

Analysis
The task group very likely will complete its transit through the Tsugaru or Soya Strait into the Sea of Japan by August 5, closing out a second full circumnavigation of Japan since the inaugural 2021 transit. A successful transit would confirm that Beijing and Moscow can generate this maneuver on a repeatable annual cycle rather than as a one-off show of force, hardening a precedent Tokyo must plan its surveillance posture around. Continued shadowing will keep JMSDF destroyers and P-3C sorties committed through early August, adding to a scramble tempo already running above last year's pace. Low confidence reflects reliance on a single official Japanese release and a Chinese commentator's stated expectation rather than independent tracking data.
4 sources
  1. Joint Russian Chinese Navy Patrol Sails Near Japan - USNI News
  2. Japanese side claims latest location of China-Russia joint naval patrol vessels; expert says route demonstrates two navies' ability to break through so-called island chain blockade - Global Times
  3. 中ロ艦艇、北海道沖へ航行 EEZ射撃の駆逐艦も - Kyodo News (Okinawa Times)
  4. 中国及びロシア海軍艦艇の動向について (Trends of Chinese and Russian Naval Vessel Activity) - Japan Ministry of Defense, Joint Staff Office (統合幕僚監部)

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