The Russian Ministry of Defense announced on August 20 that it would deliver the remaining 10 Sukhoi Su-35 multirole fighter jets to China’s People’s Liberation Army Air Force by the end of 2018.

China became the first country to buy Russia’s Su-35 when it agreed to pay $2.5 billion for 24 planes in November 2015. Contract negotiations between Russia and China had started as early as 2011. Russia delivered four Su-35 fighters in December 2016 and another 10 in December 2017.

This is the latest development in a series of steps Russia and China have taken to increase military cooperation.

Just a few decades ago, a Russia-China alliance would have seemed improbable. After World War ii, China and the Soviet Union engaged in border disputes and arguments over which version of communism was better. In 1969, tensions between the two countries escalated and war broke out.

Since the fall of the Soviet Union, Russian-Chinese relations have improved dramatically. In 1991, the Sino-Soviet Border Agreement settled many of the border disputes that caused the 1969 war. Both nations signed the 2001 Treaty of Friendship, which became the basis of peaceful relations.

In 2014, Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and annexed it into the Russian motherland. When Western nations levied heavy economic sanctions against Russia, it looked to its eastern neighbor, China, which supported its military aggression in Ukraine. As the West tried to isolate and punish Russia, China took the opportunity to develop closer ties with it, marking a major advance in the Russo-Chinese relationship.

Last month, China announced that it would participate in a large-scale military exercise to be held in Russia this month. The military drill will involve more than 3,000 Chinese soldiers, 900 vehicles and 30 aircraft. The Chinese Defense Ministry said that the drills are intended to strengthen the military partnership of Russia and China.

Decades ago, one man proclaimed to the world that Russia and China would forge a strong military partnership. Even after war broke out between Russia and China in 1969, this man maintained his predictions. This man’s name was Herbert W. Armstrong.

Mr. Armstrong’s predictions of a Russia-China axis go all the way back to 1934. In December 1959, when tensions between Russia and China were high, Mr. Armstrong asserted that the two nations would form a strong military alliance. “Russia’s program … calls first for the seizure of Asia,” Mr. Armstrong wrote in the Plain Truth magazine that month. He said that China would willingly yield to Russian leadership in an Asian bloc to advance China’s long-term ambitions:

China’s … constant dream for centuries has been ultimate world conquest! … China knows, however, that in this highly industrialized age she can accomplish this dream only as an ally of Russia. … China is now ready to begin devouring the rest of Asia with Russia’s secret military backing.

At the time of Mr. Armstrong’s death in 1986, tensions between Russia and China remained high. But events since then have proved that Mr. Armstrong was right. How could he have predicted all these events when Russia and China were at each other’s throats?

His forecasts were informed by Bible prophecy. Ezekiel 38 forecasts an Asian bloc led primarily by Russia, with China as a secondary power. Verse 2 reads, “Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal ….” In the April 1981 Plain Truth, Mr. Armstrong wrote:

There is general agreement among students of prophecy that “Gog” in the land of “Magog” is the vast regions of northern Eurasia extending from the Baltic to the Pacific [modern Russia and China]. “Meshech” is Moscow; “Tubal” is Tobolsk [considered Russia’s Asian capital]. The Bible margin says “prince of Rosh,” which is Russia.

Russia and China have grown closer, especially in the realm of military cooperation. Watch as the Russia-China axis materializes just as your Bible prophesied that it would.

To understand why the Trumpet watches Russia allying with China, please request our free booklets He Was Right and Russia and China in Prophecy.