Chinese and Russian submarines have conducted a joint patrol, in the latest step in a growing Sino-Russian partnership.

While the exercise only involved two subs, the warning was clear: America should contemplate the prospect of confronting a China-Russia alliance.

“I’d say this is simply an effort at deterrence,” Lyle Goldstein, director of the Asia Program at the Defense Priorities think tank in Washington, told Defense News. “While it is hard to conceive of a scenario where they would embark on a war with the West simultaneously, they may benefit from some impression that could be the case.”

Beijing and Moscow are portraying this as a milestone in military cooperation. A Chinese military expert told China’s Global Times newspaper that “the first joint submarine patrol indicated a h

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