Beijing also accused the U.S. of "bullying" and threatened a firm response as the Trump administration urges NATO allies and others in the G7 to crank up the pressure on China and Russia with new tariffs and sanctions that could help force an end to the war in Ukraine.

While the exercise only involved two subs, the warning was clear: America should contemplate the prospect of confronting a China-Russia alliance.

On paper, the project — known as the Power of Siberia 2 — would give Russia a way to replace some of the revenue from its decades of selling natural gas to Europe that was lost over its invasion of Ukraine. The pipeline would carry gas from reserves in western Siberia through Mongolia to China.

Pakistan and its key neighbours China and Iran have joined Russia in opposing the establishment of any “military bases in and around Afghanistan”, and called for respect of Kabul’s “sovereignty” and “territorial integrity”,

Above our heads, some 22,000 miles up, a new battlefield is emerging – and Britain is not ready for the fight.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister and Chief of the Government Executive Office Dmitry Grigorenko delivers a speech at the opening ceremony of the Global Digital Trade Expo in Hangzhou

According to China’s General Administration of Customs, the previous peak in Russian gas deliveries came in January at 4.06 billion cubic meters. “Thanks to Gazprom’s planned increases via the Power of Siberia pipeline,

Trump's subsequent push for trilateral "denuclearisation" talks involving China elicited a firm refusal from Beijing, underscoring challenges to extending the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) amid fears of a fresh nuclear arms race,