Chinese and Russian warships carried out an anti-submarine exercise in the Pacific recently, the two countries said on Tuesday.

Russia's Pacific Fleet said the exercise in the northwest of the ocean was part of a joint patrol by the two navies. It did not say exactly when it was held but it is likely to have been carried out in the past few days and follows a major exercise last month.

Two Russian anti-submarine destroyers - the Admiral Panteleyev and Admiral Tributs - took part in the operation, the Tass news agency reported. It also said that a Ka-27PL anti-submarine helicopter "was deployed to search for the notional enemy's submarine".

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The People's Liberation Army said the Chinese ships involved in the exercise included the Type 055 destroyer Wuxi, Type 052D destroyer Xining and Type 054A frigate Linyi along with a replenishment tanker and three ship-borne helicopters.

Last month the two navies took part in a weeklong exercise named Beibu/Interaction 2024 in the Sea of Japan, also known as the East Sea, and Sea of Okhotsk.

Following an opening ceremony at a base in the Russian port of Vladivostok, they took part in a series of drills that involved "repelling enemy attacks from the air, water and underwater, conducting joint manoeuvres, and defending an unprotected mooring", according to Sputnik News.

The exercise also included the use of artillery along with air-defence and anti-submarine weapons.

The Chinese Ministry of Defence said at the time that the war games were "aimed at deepening the level of strategic cooperation between the Chinese and Russian militaries and enhancing our ability to jointly respond to security threats".

Zhang Hanhui, China's ambassador to Moscow, told Russian media last week that the joint exercises represented "a concrete manifestation of the strategic mutual trust between the two countries in the field of defence".

"[We have now built] a more mature mechanism in carrying out joint exercises, the process of organising such exercises has become more standardised, and [we are able] to design exercise scenarios that are much closer to real combat situations," Zhang said.

He also described the exercises as "an important platform for the consolidation and development of ties between our two militaries, enhancing strategic and mutual trust, and improving the capabilities [of our two militaries] to conduct joint operations".

In July last year the two countries staged the first Beibu/Interaction exercise in the Sea of Japan, involving a total of 10 warships and 30 aircraft.

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