Joint China-Russia naval exercises begin off Vladivostok

The China-Russia "Joint Sea-2025" drill entered the maritime exercise phase in the waters near Vladivostok of Russia's far east on Sunday.

In the drill, formations of mixed Chinese and Russian naval vessels will conduct submarine rescue, joint anti-submarine operation, air and missile defense and maritime combat.

The three-day maritime exercise phase also includes actual weapon use training to validate the results of the previous joint planning phase.

The China-Russia joint military exercise is taking place in the waters and airspace near Vladivostok from Aug 1 to 5, under the themes of "jointly safeguarding strategic maritime routes" and "jointly countering security threats in the Western Pacific".

The exercise includes three phases of force assembly, joint planning and joint drills.

Following the conclusion of the current joint exercise, some participating forces from both sides will proceed to relevant areas of the Pacific Ocean for the sixth joint maritime patrol.

China's outstanding aggregate social financing -- the total amount of financing to the real economy -- reached 442.12 trillion yuan (about 63.4 trillion U.S. dollars) as of the end of 2025, up 8.3 percent year on year, central bank data showed on Thursday.

The country's aggregate social financing stood at 35.6 trillion yuan (about 5.1 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2025, up by 3.34 trillion yuan (about 479 billion U.S. dollars) from the year 2024, said the People's Bank of China (PBOC), the country's central bank.

According to the data, the M2, a broad measure of money supply that covers cash in circulation and all deposits, increased 8.5 percent year on year to 340.29 trillion yuan (about 48.8 trillion U.S. dollars) as of the end of December.

In addition, outstanding yuan loans stood at 271.91 trillion yuan (about 39 trillion U.S. dollars) at the end of 2025, up 6.4 percent year on year.