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Russian TV Questions Motives Behind Military Exercise With China

Posted on: Wednesday, 17 August 2005, 18:00 CDT

Excerpt from report by Russian external TV service NTV Mir on 17 August

[Presenter] Russia and China are beginning a joint military exercise. The start of the manoeuvres will be officially announced in Vladivostok tomorrow [18 August]. The so-called active phase will take place on the Chinese coastline. According to the scenario, paratroopers supported by aircraft will land on the territory of a mock nation where an armed conflict has broken out. Our correspondent Sergey Morozov visited the scene of the grand rehearsal.

[Correspondent] The largest Russian-Chinese joint exercise in history is entitled Peace Mission 2005. However, the scenario does not really make it clear who is going to be on the receiving end of that peace mission. When the manoeuvres were just being prepared, it was said this was against terrorists. Then came the version that this was a rehearsal of a peace mission. Taiwan suspects that Beijing wants to work on breaking into the rebellious island. [passage omitted]

[Pacific Fleet Commander Viktor Fedorov] Anti-submarine ships will be looking for a submarine. They will use all means to locate it, including helicopters. They will then use various means of attack for its simulated destruction. Attack ships will carry out their strike mission on surface ships, on flat targets and not on real ships.

[Correspondent] Training took place before the exercise. The military only became strategic allies very recently. And they are still finding the translation of military terms confusing. And they are allowing representatives of the other side onto their facilities with some suspicion. There are three officers on each ship and an interpreter. [passage omitted: indistinct words, background talk]

The Chinese side must know this ship - the Marshal Shaposhnikov - well. Russia has sold an exact replica of it to China, but their armaments are different. The twin ships are sailing one after the other at the exercise. Chinese pilots above all this are flying Russian Su-30 aircraft, the export version. The participation of the Marshal Shaposhnikov in the present manoeuvres is certainly an intriguing aspect. It specializes in fighting submarines. If the exercise is of an anti-terrorist nature, where would terrorists acquire submarines? The same applies to the idea of separating sides in an interethnic conflict.

This is a joint paratrooper landing. The Chinese side insisted that BTR armoured vehicles be discharged into the sea two kilometres away from the shore. This is a strategy to which the Russians are not accustomed. The journey aboard the [amphibious] BTRs is too long. But ships sailing towards the coastline are visible on radar. And BTRs are hardly noticeable at all. Possibly the idea of the exercise is for the peacekeepers to arrive secretly.

The mock enemy, whose part is not played by anyone, is attacked from the air, land and sea. Chinese paratroopers descend from helicopters having some problems attaching carbines to the rope. Special display screens show the movement of units. But it is not clear at all how the civilian population is protected. It is also unclear where in Russia or in China separatist terrorists could be defending the coastline.

But if you leave the Taiwanese explanation aside for the moment and listen to what the Chinese side has been saying, it will become clear that China is indeed preparing to conduct military operations, even though these are just peacekeeping ones, across the world.

Source: BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific

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