MK sports Korea 2024 in the eighth joint aerial strategic patrol by the Chinese and Russian militaries. Photo: Courtesy of the PLA Air Force " src="https://www.globaltimes.cn/Portals/0/attachment/2024/2024-07-28/16274d27-84a0-4b0b-8998-2251adab164f.jpeg" />

A China-Russia air force bomber formation flies over the Bering Sea on July 25, 2024 in the eighth joint aerial strategic patrol by the Chinese and Russian militaries. Photo: Courtesy of the PLA Air Force

If you have seen Western media coverage of Chinese and Russian aircraft conducting joint patrol recently over the Chukchi, Bering Seas and North Pacific, you could be forgiven for thinking that they were dropping bombs on US territory.

It's clear to anyone, even the hyped-up hacks, that these were operations being conducted in international airspace, far away from US territory. Even Washington itself admitted that the flights of Russian and Chinese planes were not regarded as a "threat."

But the very fact that this patrol took place was enough to give the media the jitters and to report the incidents differently to how they cover similar exercises conducted in China's backyard by American forces.

When American warplanes - or, more often, American warships - carry out what Washington blithely and dishonestly calls "freedom of navigation" transits of the Taiwan Straits, it is presented to US citizens as a normal function of their armed forces. The fact that journalists are often invited along to witness any "confrontations" adds an element of novelty, designed to hold the interest of readers or viewers. It is a very subtle way of reinforcing support for US foreign policy objectives: the armed forces, which citizens rightly respect, are seen to be doing their duty and are admired for it. 

Moreover, by association the purpose of their conduct (dictated by politicians) becomes part of the same narrative, and therefore endorsed by a largely supine population. When the boot is on the other foot, when they report the activities of China's forces close to the US, coverage can be alarmist.

On July 25, the news website Euronews told how Russian and Chinese bombers had been "caught" operating near Alaska. The use of that word implies some wrongdoing. The story also told how the US/Canadian agency NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, had "intercepted" four bombers, as if Russia and China had expected to evade detection. The use of such language is designed to shape perceptions, and imply that they were not complying with international law.

At least NORAD had the decency to admit in a public statement that the joint operation by Russia and China - 200 miles off the US coast - was "not seen as a threat," even if the media behaved as if it had been. It is the only position which NORAD could have taken, as the joint air patrol had been conducted legally, in international airspace, within international law. 

The British newspaper the Independent reported the encounter from the perspective not of a lawful military exercise but in the context of US and Canadian fighter jets being scrambled to intercept the Russian Tu-95MS "Bear" strategic bombers and Chinese Xi'an H-6 bombers. The report placed a clumsy emphasis on the fact that the bombers were "nuclear capable." When US aircraft carriers and other warships - including those from allies in NATO - or spy planes operate within a hair's breadth of China, the reports of their activities are always positive and rarely, if ever, mention nuclear capability. There has been little coverage of an incident which occurred days earlier, when Russia claimed to have scrambled fighter jets to intercept US long-range bombers approaching its border over the Barents Sea.

Joint Russian and Chinese military, air force or naval exercises in areas close to or even bordering the US or NATO countries are not uncommon, but compared with the frequency of Western activity around China it pales into insignificance. American warships routinely, sometimes monthly, provocatively sail through the Taiwan Straits, intent on triggering a response from China. Of course, this cannot be presented as a direct parallel with what happened off Alaska. The sole purpose of the China-Russia patrol was to do just that: conduct an exercise. The aircraft's five-hour mission was part of the annual engagement plan which, Beijing said, was "nothing to do with the current international situation." Washington's sabre-rattling, however, is by its own admission designed to test Beijing's resolve, something which can be demonstrated only by a military response from the Chinese. 

Comparing the American and the Russia-China exercises is to draw a false equivalence. The one in the air off Alaska represents legitimate military maneuvers, the type of which is conducted by armed forces all around the world. The ones in the Taiwan Straits are so much more than that: it is not to test the efficiency and resolve of the forces conducting them, but rather a deliberate effort to stir up conflict and tension in the region. No wonder, then, that Washington views China and Russia's activities off its shores through the distorted lens of its own behavior. It automatically assumes that everyone else is behaving as badly as itself.

The author is a journalist and lecturer in Britain. [email protected]