Russia, China ready for joint drills that begin Sunday
August 19, 2014, 6:29 am

Armoured vehicles of foreign troops concentrate at the Zhurihe training base, north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Aug. 16, 2014 [Xinhua]

Final batches of Russian troops landed in China on Tuesday for Peace Mission 2014 that will be held in Zhurihe training base in in China’s Inner Mongolia region from August 24, a Russian military spokesperson said.

The joint anti-terror drills will be held under the aegis of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). The six-day drill from 24-29 August will start at the Zhurihe training base, and mobilize over 7,000 soldiers from the five countries that includes Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, apart from Russia and China.

“The last military echelon carrying Russian personnel and combat vehicles arrived today at the Zhurihe training grounds to take part in the joint anti-terror war games codenamed Peace Mission 2014,” Eastern Military District spokesman Alexander Gordeyev was quoted by Russian agency Ria Novosti.

900 Russian troops are participating in the drills.

Moscow has also sent eight Mi-8 helicopter gunships and four Su-25 jets to aid the ground drills aimed at strengthening military cooperation among the SCO members.

The Peace Mission 2014 will “aim at countering terrorism, separatism and extremism, safeguarding regional peace and stability and improving the militaries’ coordinated ability to fight terrorism,” said China’s Ministry of National Defense.

Earlier this year, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russian-Chinese combat comradeship had long-standing traditions. “We remember that in the Second World War years our countries were allies and fought with the aggressor together,” Putin said.

Chinese President Xi Jinping also recently became the first foreign leader who visited the Russian Defense Ministry’s operational control centre.

While Moscow is struggling with economic sanctions imposed by the US and the EU, Beijing is furious with what it alleges are US maneuvers in riling up tensions in the South and East China Sea.

The US has said it will protect its allies in the region, militarily if need be, such as the Philippines and Japan, currently embroiled in simmering territorial disputes with China.

In a commentary earlier this month, Chinese state news agency Xinhua accused Washington of “stoking the flames,” and “further emboldening countries like the Philippines and Vietnam to take a hardline stance against China, raising suspicion over the real intention of the United States and make an amicable solution more difficult to reach.”

 TBP and Agencies