What is Northern/Interaction-2023?

About Northern/Interaction-2023

• Northern/Interaction-2023 military drills is organized by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Northern Theatre Command in the central Sea of Japan.
• The event marks Russia’s second time participating in the PLA annual strategic drills, and also a first that Russia has dispatched both naval and air forces to participate in similar events.
• The drills are themed “safeguarding the safety of strategic maritime routes“.
• In August 2021, Russia participated in the “Western/Interaction-2021” exercise held at Northwest China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, which marked the first time that China invited foreign forces to participate in its annual strategic exercises in its territory.
• “Northern/Interaction-2023” drills are organized by the PLA Northern Theater Command, while PLA forces participating in the previous “Western/Interaction-2021” exercise were mainly composed of forces from the Western Theater Command.

Key facts about Sea of Japan:

• Sea of Japan (East Sea) is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean.
• It is located in Eastern Asia that is bounded by Japan and Sakhalin Island to the east and by Russia and Korea on the Asian mainland to the west. 
• Its area is 377,600 square miles (978,000 square km).
• The sea itself lies in a deep basin, separated from the East China Sea to the south by the Tsushima and Korea straits and from the Sea of Okhotsk to the north by the La Perouse (or Sōya) and Tatar straits. 
• To the east it is also connected with the Inland Sea of Japan by the Kanmon Strait and to the Pacific by the Tsugaru Strait.
• It influences the climate of Japan because of its relatively warm waters.

Q1) Which countries border the East China Sea?

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East China Sea is arm of the Pacific Ocean bordering the East Asian mainland and extending northeastward from the South China Sea, to which it is connected by the shallow Taiwan Strait between Taiwan and mainland China.The countries that border the East China Sea are South Korea, Japan, the Republic of China (Taiwan), and the People’s Republic of China.

Source: China, Russia to start joint air and sea drill in Sea of Japan