Japan and South Korea scramble jets to track Russian and Chinese bomber patrol

Joint Russia and China patrol over the Pacific signals stronger military ties between Moscow and Beijing

Japan and South Korea have scrambled fighter jets to track Russian and Chinese bombers which flown a joint patrol mission over the western Pacific in a show of increasingly close military ties between Moscow and Beijing.

The Russian military said a pair of its Tu-95 strategic bombers and four Chinese H-6K bombers flew over the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea on Tuesday.