The drills have apparently already been underway for a while, since "early July" - according to a Chinese military statement, and have been dubbed Joint Sea-2024. They are slated to continue for several more days into mid-July.

The defense ministry identified that the drills, which include an aerial component, are centered near the southern city of Zhanjiang, and aim "to demonstrate the resolve and capabilities of the two sides in jointly addressing maritime security threats and preserving global and regional peace and stability."

The exercises "will further deepen China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for the new era," the ministry continued.

China and Russia are without doubt signaling the West that their relations and cooperation on the levels of defense, industry, and technology will remain ironclad. 

Leaders of NATO this week issued a communique which among other things declared that Beijing "cannot enable the largest war in Europe in recent history" without facing repercussions.

China has remained officially neutral on Ukraine, but has still faced US sanctions for supplying Russia with industrial parts and goods which are vital to Russia's defense manufacturing sector.

One analyst was cited in The New York Times as pointing out that the NATO statement was especially strong and full-throated: 

"It's a very rare move for NATO to openly accuse China, saying Beijing is massively supporting Russia's defense industrial base," said Liou Shiau-shyang, an expert on China and Russia at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, a government-funded research group in Taiwan. "Clearly, the United States has won over some skeptics who did not see China as a key player in the Russia-Ukraine war."

Meanwhile China has responded in part through a series of English language op-eds in state-run Global Times, with themes of NATO constantly "hyping" the China threat.