Russia, China’s aggressive policies threaten maritime navigation worldwide - expert

The opinion was expressed by Oleksandr Khara, executive director at the Center for Defense Strategies, who spoke at the 5th Ukrainian-Japanese forum organized by the New Europe Center, Ukrinform reports.

"If Russia prevails and the United States helps them in Ukraine, we can forget about free navigation," said the expert on foreign and security policy.

In his opinion, the threat to free navigation comes from the aggressive policy pursued by Russia and China, which the U.S. is only emboldening with its inaction.

"We see that China is adopting the practices of the Russian Federation: recently they conducted naval exercises in the exclusive economic zone of Australia. And they did not even warn anyone, as they were supposed to, through the International Maritime Organization, of what would be going on there," said Khara.

The expert added that such exercises are regularly held off the coasts of Japan and Taiwan, so, according to his outlook, each country would have to spend additional funds to ensure navigation safety.

Khara concluded that the global order is collapsing, and that "the U.S. is accelerating the process."

As Ukrinform reported earlier, the People's Liberation Army of China last week conducted snap exercises off the coast of Taiwan involving 32 combat aircraft and several warships.

Taiwan's defense ministry said the Chinese military had announced without warning that they were conducting live-fire exercises dangerously close to the island, endangering civilian navigation and air traffic in the Taiwan Strait.