| kathleen 2005-08-19, 9:02 am |
| Russia and China rattle sabres with joint war games
http://www.guardian.co.uk/china/sto...1552199,00.html
Show of force an effort to erode US image as world police
Tom Parfitt in Moscow
Friday August 19, 2005
The Guardian
Russia and China launched their first joint military exercise yesterday
in a show of force calculated to dissuade the US from presuming a
dominant role in global security.
Fighter planes, bombers and more than 10,000 troops will take part in
the week-long war games in Vladivostok and the Yellow Sea.
While analysts say the exercises are mainly an excuse for Russia to
showcase aircraft to its biggest military hardware client, the two
countries are keen to erode Washington's image as a world policeman.
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Moscow and Beijing's interests converge in central Asia, where both
hope to quell Islamic extremism, preserve trade interests and stifle US
attempts to dominate the region.
"It's an attempt to remind the US that a different truth exists which
can also be enforced by military might," said Ivan Safranchuk of the
Centre for Defence Information.
The Russians and Chinese have shown signs of forming a loose alliance
against America in recent months, but defence officials were at pains
to emphasise that the exercise, Peace Mission 2005, was not aimed at
any country. "The exercise will be carried out in the framework of the
fight against international terrorism and extremism, to respond to new
threats and challenges," said Liang Guanglie, chief-of-staff of China's
armed forces.
The manoeuvres would boost the countries' common interests and "protect
peace and stability in our region and the whole world", he added.
Yury Baluyevsky, Russia's chief of general staff, said the mission was
"an important event in relations between the two armies and countries".
The war game scenario will see forces from the two countries invade an
imaginary state stricken by ethnic conflict in order to wrest control
under a UN mandate.
Russian paratroopers will join Chinese troops to land amphibious craft
on the Jiaodong peninsula in the Yellow Sea, supported by long-distance
bombing runs and cruise missiles. It is thought that China's nuclear
submarine fleet and anti-submarine capability will also be tested.
Ruslan Pukhov, a Russian military analyst, said the strategic bombers
seemed out of place in a mock anti-terrorist operation, suggesting they
were only included as potential purchases for Beijing. "It looks more
like a demonstration of aircraft to a potential client than a
recreation of peacekeeping operations," he said.
The state arms exporter Rosoboronexport announced yesterday that
Russia's arms exports this year would match the =A32.8bn sales made in
2004.
Washington recently expressed concern at China's military build-up and
the new commander of the US Pacific fleet, Admiral Gary Roughead, said
yesterday he was "very interested" in the exercises.
Mr Safranchuk said Moscow and Beijing were seeking to be guarantors of
security in the region to protect trade interests and sources of cheap
labour. They were also striving to ensure a "share and a voice" in
lucrative pipeline deals, he said.
The US state department spokesman Sean McCormack said Washington would
not have observers at the exercises but hoped they would not be
"something that would be disruptive to the current atmosphere in the
region."
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