Russia and China have been conducting joint naval drills and war games in recent weeks, in a show of strength and camaraderie for the regional and Western audience.

Several experts told DW that Moscow's intentions were to distract the United States from Europe and weaken the NATO alliance, while China intended to spook regional adversaries and learn lessons from Russia's war experience.

"Russia wants the US to focus more on the Indo-Pacific in the hope that it will reduce military deployment and its support to Europe," said Ying-Yu Lin, a military expert at Tamkang University in Taiwan.

At least 15 countries were invited to observe the drills, but China was the key partner.

"We pay special attention to strengthening military cooperation with friendly states," Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the launch of the exercises in early September, as if brandishing Moscow's defense cooperation with Beijing as a counterweight to the Western security alliance.

But these exercises, Russia's largest in 30 years, aren't the first with China this year. In July, Russian and Chinese bombers flew together for the first time in international airspace off the US coast of Alaska, while in Europe, Chinese soldiers staged joint anti-terrorism exercises in Belarus, on NATO's eastern flank — just kilometers away from the border with Poland.

China's increased presence on NATO's outer edges may be, in part, in response to NATO plans to increase its cooperation with key regional partners Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, also known as the IP4.

NATO has said developments in the Indo-Pacific region "can directly affect Euro-Atlantic security," and the idea of collaborating with the partners is to........

© Deutsche Welle