On September 19, while Biden was paying his respects to the late Queen of England, Russia and China held a joint military operation off the coast of Alaska. According to sources, a US Coast Guard ship on normal patrol in the Bering Sea happened upon a Chinese-guided missile cruiser. However, the cruise ship was not alone when it cruised around 86 miles north of Alaska’s Kiska Island on September 19. Two further Chinese naval ships and four Russian naval vessels, including a destroyer, were sighted in a single configuration, according to the patrol boat, known as the Kimball cutter.
The Kimball, a 418-foot (127-meter) warship headquartered in Honolulu, watched as the ships broke formation and dispersed. From the Coast Guard station in Kodiak, a C-130 Hercules provided air assistance for the Kimball.
The Seventeenth Coast Guard District commander, Rear Adm. Nathan Moore, stated that although the formation has complied with international laws and standards, we will meet presence-with-presence to ensure there are no interruptions to US interests in the seas near Alaska.
The establishment by China and Russia comes a month after NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned about China’s interest in the Arctic and Russia’s military expansion there. According to Stoltenberg, Russia has established a new Arctic Command and opened hundreds of new and former Soviet-era Arctic military facilities, including deep-water ports and airfields.
Stoltenberg stated that China has proclaimed itself a “near Arctic” state and aims to build the world’s largest icebreaker. Beijing and Moscow have also promised to strengthen practical collaboration in the Arctic. This is part of a growing strategic alliance that tests our values and interests, Stoltenberg said during a visit to Canada’s north.
This was not the first time Chinese naval ships passed close to the Alaskan seas. Coast Guard cutters in the Bering Sea and North Pacific Ocean intercepted Chinese ships in September 2021, roughly 50 miles off the Aleutian Islands.
Former Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf told Newsmax that the Coast Guard’s detection of Russian and Chinese navy vessels off the coast of Alaska should be cause for alarm. You have to be concerned about that, especially when they’re off the coast of the United States and Alaska, Wolf said on “American Agenda.”
The Department of Defense will be watching such drills. Hopefully, they’re communicating with some of them — if not all of them. Usually, when they’re doing huge workouts like that, they’ll give us a heads up, so there’s no altercation going on. Nevertheless, it should still be concerning, and you’re still keeping an eye on it to figure out what’s going on, Wolf elaborated.
The Coast Guard observed a People’s Republic of China guided missile cruiser “about 75 nautical miles north of Kiska Island, Alaska,” according to a Facebook post on Tuesday.
The Chinese missile cruiser was accompanied by “two other Chinese navy warships and four Russian military vessels, including a Russian Federation Navy destroyer, all operating in the US Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).”
The South China Morning Post called the display a show of solidarity. According to them, a Chinese guided missile frigate, the Yancheng, and Dongpinghu supply ship were reportedly part of the joint operation, which was also said to include three Russian corvettes and a tanker.