Russia, China open first joint military exercises

BEIJING (Reuters) – China and Russia began eight days of
war games on Thursday aimed at boosting cooperation between the
former adversaries and sending a message to the United States
about their growing influence in the region.

The first-ever joint military exercises between the giant
neighbours, who share a 4,300-km (2,700-mile) border, also
present a commercial opportunity for Russia, China’s biggest
supplier of arms and weapons technology, to flog its wares,
analysts say.

“The main target is the United States. Both sides want to
improve their position for bargaining in terms of security,
politics and economics,” said Jin Canrong, a professor of
international relations at the People’s University of China.

Both countries say “Peace Mission 2005,” which involves
10,000 troops and army, navy and air force exercises, is aimed
at building ties between their militaries and analysts say it
is not targeted at any third country.

“Military cooperation is linked with political and economic
cooperation as part of a bigger package,” said Robert Karniol,
Asia-Pacific editor for Jane’s Defense Weekly. “It’s not an
adversarial posture.”

But with the drills also helping to “strengthen the
capability of the two armed forces in jointly striking
international terrorism, extremism and separatism,” according
to China’s Xinhua news agency, they are likely to be viewed
with concern by others in the region.

The exercises are taking place in the Russian Pacific near
Vladivostok and in the Chinese coastal province of Shandong and
run through August 25.