Watch out for Communist China. That’s the crucial lesson looking ahead from China’s cooperation, for the first time, with the Russians on aerial exercises near Alaska.

No sooner had a top Pentagon official warned of the need to keep close tabs on the Russians and Chinese in the region than American and Canadian warplanes had to intercept two Russian and two Chinese fighters that had flown inside the boundaries of Alaska’s Air Defense Identification Zone.

No, that’s not quite the same as flying within the 12-mile limit of American territorial waters, but planes are asked to report where they are and what they’re doing when flying inside the 150-mile limit of the ADIZ. 

Disturbingly, the exercise marked the first time Chinese planes have flown in tandem in the area with the Russians, who’ve violated the ADIZ a number of times.

The Russian and Chinese threat, extending to the entire Arctic, including the northern reaches of Alaska, is “very noticeable and concerning,” said the deputy defense secretary, Kathleen Hicks. She accused the Chinese of seeking “to promote the Arctic region as a ‘global commons’ in order to shift Arctic governance in its favor.”

All of which, said the deputy assistant secretary, Iris Ferguson, means the Americans have to focus “a watchful eye” on what the Chinese and Russians are up to.

That’s exactly what the North American Aerospace Command, the joint American-Canadian command known as Norad, was doing when it ordered American F16 and F35 and Canadian CF-18 fighters to intercept the intruders, including two Russian TU-95 Bears and two Chinese H-6 bombers.

The Chinese were full of justifications for playing aerial war games  with the Russians. Just “further testing and enhancing the level of cooperation between the two air forces,” said a Chinese defense ministry spokesman. Oh no,  “this action is not aimed at third parties” — “nothing to do with the current international and regional situation.”

The brush with potentially hostile planes came right after the Pentagon revised its Arctic Strategy, promising a “monitor-and-respond’ approach to the region,” according to Air & Space Forces Magazine.  

The article quoted Defense Secretary Austin as saying the Arctic was “becoming a venue for strategic competition” and the American military needs to “enhance its Arctic capabilities.”

Back on earth, the Chinese are cooperating with the Russians in numerous other ways.

“China has bolstered Russia’s military industry by providing it with microelectronics, machine tools, and other dual-use components, which have helped produce Russian weapons for its war in Ukraine,” said Air & Space Forces. “In 2023, 90 percent of Russia’s microelectronics imports, critical for the production of missiles, tanks, and aircraft, came from China, according to U.S. officials.”