Chinese and Russian warships held their first-ever joint patrol in the western part of the Pacific Ocean this weekend. Moscow and Beijing , which staged naval cooperation drills in the Sea of Japan earlier in October, have cultivated closer military and diplomatic ties in recent years at a time when their relations with the West have soured. The naval manoeuvres were watched closely by Japan, which said earlier this week that a group of ten vessels from China and Russia sailed through the Tsugaru Strait that separates Japan's main island of Honshu and its northern one of Hokkaido. Russia's defence…