A Russian warship armed with new-generation hypersonic cruise weapons is to participate in joint exercises with the navies of China and South Africa next month, the Russian news agency TASS said yesterday.
It was the first official mention of the participation by the frigate, Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Gorshkov, which is armed with Zircon missiles.
The missiles fly at nine times the speed of sound, with a range of more than 1,000km, Russia says.
Photo: EPA-EFE
They form the centerpiece of its hypersonic arsenal, along with the Avangard glide vehicle that entered combat duty in 2019.
“Admiral Gorshkov ... will go to the logistic support point in Syria’s Tartus, and then take part in joint naval exercises with the Chinese and South African navies,” the agency said, citing an unidentified defense source.
On Thursday, the South African National Defence Force said the drills, to run from Feb. 17 to 27 near the port city of Durban and Richards Bay, aim “to strengthen the already flourishing relations between South Africa, Russia and China.”
The exercise would be the second involving the three countries in South Africa, after a drill in 2019, the defense force added in its statement.
The Gorshkov this month held exercises in the Norwegian Sea after Russian President Vladimir Putin sent it to the Atlantic Ocean in a signal to the West that Moscow would not back down over the war in Ukraine.
Russia sees the weapons as a way to pierce increasingly sophisticated US missile defenses that Putin has warned could one day shoot down its nuclear missiles.
China, Russia and the US are in a race to develop hypersonic weapons, seen as a way to gain an edge over any adversary because of their speeds, greater than five times that of sound, and because they are harder to detect.
Meanwhile, South Africa defended the drills amid criticism over its noncommital stance on the war in Ukraine.
The South African Ministry of Defence and Military Veterans said it has conducted similar military maneuvers with the US, the UK and France without attracting “hype.”
“South Africa, like any independent and sovereign state, has a right to conduct its foreign relations in line with its own diplomatic relations and national interests,” the ministry said in a statement.
The exercise is aimed at “further strengthening the strong bonds that exist between South Africa, Russia and China,” it said.
The furor about the exercises comes as Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov yesterday arrived to hold talks with his South African counterpart, while US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen is due to arrive today.
South Africa has abstained on a number of UN resolutions condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Key government officials have made comments that have stoked criticism of the government’s approach to the conflict at a time when the Western nations opposing Russia’s action are among its main trading partners.
“Contrary to the assertions by our critics, South Africa is not abandoning its neutral position on the Russian-Ukraine conflict,” the ministry said. “We remain firm in our view that multilateralism and dialogue are keys to unlock sustainable international peace.”
While South Africa’s ruling African National Congress has historic ties to Russia, which supported the fight against apartheid, there are few economic links between the two nations.
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
‘FORM OF PROTEST’: The German Institute Taipei said it was ‘shocked’ to see Nazi symbolism used in connection with political aims as it condemned the incident Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 yesterday amid an outcry over a Nazi armband he wore to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case on Tuesday night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and apparently covering the book with a coat. This is a serious international scandal and Chinese
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
COUNTERINTELLIGENCE TRAINING: The ministry said 87.5 percent of the apprehended Chinese agents were reported by service members they tried to lure into becoming spies Taiwanese organized crime, illegal money lenders, temples and civic groups are complicit in Beijing’s infiltration of the armed forces, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said in a report yesterday. Retired service members who had been turned to Beijing’s cause mainly relied on those channels to infiltrate the Taiwanese military, according to the report to be submitted to lawmakers ahead of tomorrow’s hearing on Chinese espionage in the military. Chinese intelligence typically used blackmail, Internet-based communications, bribery or debts to loan sharks to leverage active service personnel to do its bidding, it said. China’s main goals are to collect intelligence, and develop a