Warships from a joint China-Russia naval operation circled the Alaska coast earlier this week, forming the largest combined Russian-Chinese battle group to ever approach American borders.
Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Ala.) said in a statement on Aug. 5 that 11 Russian and Chinese warships operating together approached the Alaska coast earlier last week, in what he called "yet another reminder that we have entered a new era of authoritarian aggression led by the dictators of Beijing and Moscow."
Mr. Sullivan, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, stated on Fox News late on August 5 that the U.S. The Navy dispatched four destroyers to accompany Chinese and Russian vessels away from US coastal waters.
Last summer, a similar, but smaller-scale operation off the coast of Alaska was observed, according to the Alaska congressman.
“Given that our response was tepid, I strongly encouraged senior military leaders to be ready with a much more robust response” in the event of another similar drill, Mr. Sullivan said in a follow-up statement.
He was also "heartened" to see that the recent invasion was greeted with a vigorous response, sending a "strong message" to China and Russia that the US "will not hesitate to protect and defend our vital national interests in Alaska."
However, details of the combined operation are few. The United States Northern Command did not immediately react to The Epoch Times' request for confirmation and more specifics, but a spokeswoman informed The Wall Street Journal that, in addition to naval ships, U.S. aviation assets were scrambled in response to the combined China-Russia action.
“Air and maritime assets under our commands conducted operations to assure the defense of the United States and Canada. The patrol remained in international waters and was not considered a threat,” the command said in a statement, per the outlet.
According to experts, the China-Russia operation was the largest ever to approach the US coast.
“This is the largest combined Russian–Chinese battle group to approach American shores ever,” Brent Sadler, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation and a retired Navy captain, said in a post on Twitter, which has been officially rebranded to “X.”
“Something wicked this way comes…”
He echoed the view of the immense scale of the joint operation in his interview on Fox News.
“This is unprecedented in terms of the size and scope of this joint naval task force between Russia and China, working very closely together,” Mr. Sullivan told the outlet.
“Whether you live in Alaska like I do, or on the East Coast of the United States, a very large surface action task force between our two main adversaries, probing very closely to United States shores is concerning.”
He stated that he believes the operation demonstrates that officials in China and Russia are becoming "increasingly aggressive" against the United States.
