The Ministry of National Defense of China on Wednesday, July 24, said that it has carried out joint air patrols with Russia but did not enter the territorial airspace of any other country.
More than 300 warning shots were fired by South Korean military after two Chinese H-6 bombers and two Russian TU-95 bombers violated the Korea Air Defence Identification Zone ( KADIZ) over Dokdo - an island, which is disputed land that both Japan and South Korean claim as theirs.
Russia, however, claimed on Tuesday, that an 'equipment malfunction' caused the military aircraft to deviate and enter the South Korean airspace.
A Russian military official told senior South Korean official Yoon Do-han, that the Russian military plane appeared to have "entered an area that was not planned due to device malfunction".
While military cooperation including joint war games that included testing defence capabilities using military assets between China and Russia has happened previously, a joint air patrol was conducted for the first time in the Asia Pacific region on Tuesday.
"The joint patrol was carried out with the aim of deepening Russian-Chinese relations within our all-encompassing partnership, of further increasing cooperation between our armed forces, and of perfecting their capabilities to carry out joint actions, and of strengthening global strategic security," the Russian ministry said in a statement.
Russia's defence ministry has said that they would 'take necessary steps' and launch an investigation to examine the incident, reported Korean Yonhap news agency.
A separate Russian A-50 warplane also entered the airspace on Tuesday morning above Dokdo - a disputed island that is claimed both by South Korea and Japan - which calls it Takeshima, according to the South Korean military.
