To further deepen the countries' military cooperation, China announced Wednesday that it would work with Russia to carry out joint military drills in the East China Sea sometime late in May.

The defense ministry of China did not provided the details on the exact location where the naval drills will be conducted in the East China Sea. A disputed cluster of uninhabited islets between Shanghai and Japan is located in this area.

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On its website, the ministry posted "These drills are regular exercises held by China and Russia's navies, and the purpose is to deepen practical cooperation between the two militaries, to raise the ability to jointly deal with maritime security threats." No other details were given.   

Just last year, China startled Japan, the United States, and South Korea when it declared a specific air defense identification zone for the disputed isles and other areas around the East China Sea. The Chinese government deployed patrols to the defense zone since then.

A week ago, China was infuriated after US President Barack Obama guaranteed that Washington is stands by its commitment to defend Japan in all its ordeals, even with the disputed isles.   

Tokyo government announced earlier this month that it would start creating a new radar base in the disputed area, particularly on the tropical Japanese island located near Taiwan. The said radar station located on Yonaguni Island, just about 93 miles away from the nearest islet in East China Sea that is on dispute, starts the first Japanese military expansion in its western region in over 40 years.

Over the years, China and Russia are known to have a very close-knit diplomatic, economic, and security relationships that they have with each other. They also conduct a lot of military exercises together in one drill. The latest one shows the close relationship that these countries have.