Post by con's fly is open on Aug 18, 2005 21:14:48 GMT 7
China, Russia kick off first joint military execrcises
By BURT HERMAN
Thursday, August 18, 2005 Updated at 6:10 AM EDT
Associated Press
Vladivostok, Russia — Russia and China began unprecedented joint military exercises involving air, sea and land forces Thursday, as commanders from both nations insisted the war games weren't meant to intimidate other countries.
The United States isn't sending observers to the exercises, which symbolize the bolstered ties between Russia and China since the end of the Cold War, but the U.S. has said it hopes they don't shake regional stability.
“Our exercises don't threaten any country,” General Yuri Baluyevsky, the head of the Russian armed forces general staff, told a news conference at Russia's Pacific Fleet command in the Far East city of Vladivostok.
General Liang Guanglie, chief of the general staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, said the exercises were taking place in accord with UN principles and would serve to boost the countries' common interests and “protect peace and stability in our region and the whole world.” He said they took part in the context of the “fight against international terrorism, separatism and extremism.”
General Liang denied that the moves to strengthen ties between Beijing and Moscow would lead to some kind of military union or the two countries fighting together against any common foe.
Instead, the generals said the eight days of exercises were a result of the warming ties between the countries on many levels. China and Russia have drawn closer together since the end of the Cold War after decades of estrangement, united in their opposition to U.S. dominance in world affairs.
The exercises, dubbed “Peace Mission 2005,” started Thursday with strategic consultations between commanders, and will climax next week with an amphibious and paratroop landing on China's Shandong peninsula in the Yellow Sea. Some 10,000 troops are involved, mostly Chinese and about 1,800 Russians.
The new commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, Admiral Gary Roughead, said in an interview that the United States was “very interested” in the Chinese-Russian exercises.
“We're very interested in the exercise, we're interested in the types of things that they'll do,” Admiral Roughead told the Associated Press on Wednesday in Hawaii. “We're interested in the complexity and the types of systems that they bring to bear.”
Heralding the start of the drills, the Russian and Chinese commanders laid wreaths at a Second World War memorial in Vladivostok before a Russian honour guard, and veterans from both countries also placed flowers there.
Experts say the manoeuvres are more of a sales pitch to the Chinese of Russian-made arms -- including the country's long-range strategic bombers.
Analysts have noted the involvement of Russia's Tu-95 strategic bombers and Tu-22M long-range bombers in the exercises -- warplanes that can carry conventional or nuclear-tipped cruise missiles and are not usually part of peacekeeping operations. The aircraft are expected to top China's shopping list both to deter U.S. assistance to Taiwan in the event of a conflict and project Chinese strength across the region.
General Baluyevsky on Thursday praised Russian weapons as reliable and easy to repair.
But both countries also are looking to prove their military might.
The U.S. Defence Department said in a report last month that China's military was increasingly seeking to modernize and could become a threat to American and other forces in the Asia-Pacific region as it looked to spread its influence.
The Russian military is also eager to show it can still flex its muscles despite much-publicized woes. Its weaknesses were highlighted again earlier this month when the country was forced to call for outside help to rescue seven men stranded in a mini-submarine off its Pacific coast in operations that involved the Vladivostok-based Pacific Fleet.
Russia and China are the dominant countries in the Shanghai Co-operation Organization, a grouping that includes four former Soviet republics of Central Asia and which this year took on Iran, India and Pakistan as observers.
At a summit in July, the group called on Washington to set a date for the withdrawal of its forces from Central Asia, where they have been deployed since late 2001 to help support operations in neighbouring Afghanistan. Representatives from the organization's countries have been invited to watch the exercises.
By BURT HERMAN
Thursday, August 18, 2005 Updated at 6:10 AM EDT
Associated Press
Vladivostok, Russia — Russia and China began unprecedented joint military exercises involving air, sea and land forces Thursday, as commanders from both nations insisted the war games weren't meant to intimidate other countries.
The United States isn't sending observers to the exercises, which symbolize the bolstered ties between Russia and China since the end of the Cold War, but the U.S. has said it hopes they don't shake regional stability.
“Our exercises don't threaten any country,” General Yuri Baluyevsky, the head of the Russian armed forces general staff, told a news conference at Russia's Pacific Fleet command in the Far East city of Vladivostok.
General Liang Guanglie, chief of the general staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, said the exercises were taking place in accord with UN principles and would serve to boost the countries' common interests and “protect peace and stability in our region and the whole world.” He said they took part in the context of the “fight against international terrorism, separatism and extremism.”
General Liang denied that the moves to strengthen ties between Beijing and Moscow would lead to some kind of military union or the two countries fighting together against any common foe.
Instead, the generals said the eight days of exercises were a result of the warming ties between the countries on many levels. China and Russia have drawn closer together since the end of the Cold War after decades of estrangement, united in their opposition to U.S. dominance in world affairs.
The exercises, dubbed “Peace Mission 2005,” started Thursday with strategic consultations between commanders, and will climax next week with an amphibious and paratroop landing on China's Shandong peninsula in the Yellow Sea. Some 10,000 troops are involved, mostly Chinese and about 1,800 Russians.
The new commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, Admiral Gary Roughead, said in an interview that the United States was “very interested” in the Chinese-Russian exercises.
“We're very interested in the exercise, we're interested in the types of things that they'll do,” Admiral Roughead told the Associated Press on Wednesday in Hawaii. “We're interested in the complexity and the types of systems that they bring to bear.”
Heralding the start of the drills, the Russian and Chinese commanders laid wreaths at a Second World War memorial in Vladivostok before a Russian honour guard, and veterans from both countries also placed flowers there.
Experts say the manoeuvres are more of a sales pitch to the Chinese of Russian-made arms -- including the country's long-range strategic bombers.
Analysts have noted the involvement of Russia's Tu-95 strategic bombers and Tu-22M long-range bombers in the exercises -- warplanes that can carry conventional or nuclear-tipped cruise missiles and are not usually part of peacekeeping operations. The aircraft are expected to top China's shopping list both to deter U.S. assistance to Taiwan in the event of a conflict and project Chinese strength across the region.
General Baluyevsky on Thursday praised Russian weapons as reliable and easy to repair.
But both countries also are looking to prove their military might.
The U.S. Defence Department said in a report last month that China's military was increasingly seeking to modernize and could become a threat to American and other forces in the Asia-Pacific region as it looked to spread its influence.
The Russian military is also eager to show it can still flex its muscles despite much-publicized woes. Its weaknesses were highlighted again earlier this month when the country was forced to call for outside help to rescue seven men stranded in a mini-submarine off its Pacific coast in operations that involved the Vladivostok-based Pacific Fleet.
Russia and China are the dominant countries in the Shanghai Co-operation Organization, a grouping that includes four former Soviet republics of Central Asia and which this year took on Iran, India and Pakistan as observers.
At a summit in July, the group called on Washington to set a date for the withdrawal of its forces from Central Asia, where they have been deployed since late 2001 to help support operations in neighbouring Afghanistan. Representatives from the organization's countries have been invited to watch the exercises.
I love that attitude.
