Foreign Correspondence

[Amaunet]

The Russian and Chinese armed forces will act as one to maintain stability in the region through joint efforts.

-Am

FIRST RUSSIAN-CHINESE MILITARY EXERCISE TO BE HELD IN CHINA



2004-12-16 14:00
MOSCOW, December 16 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian-Chinese military exercise to be held in China in 2005 will emphasise establishing the interoperability between the two militaries, a ranking Russian Defence Ministry official told RIA Novosti on Thursday.

"It is going to be a pure military exercise - a combined joint exercise, in which various branches and services are going to participate," the official said.

RIA Novosti's source noted that the war game was not planned to be conducted in the vicinity of any country China borders and the final scenario was yet to be completed.

"We are going to start planning. It will be no cakewalk," the source said.

Agreement on the upcoming exercise was reached during Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov's visit to China on December 12-15.

"We have agreed that there will be the first large-scale exercise conducted on Chinese soil in 2005 by the militaries of the two countries," Ivanov said.

Chinese Defence Minister Cao Gangchuan, in his turn, noted that the friendly relations between the Russian and Chinese armed forces were not designed to the detriment of other nations.

"We aim at develop our forces and maintain stability in the region through joint efforts," he said.


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