Russia and China to Increase Military Exercises

MOSCOW, May 09, 2015 (Xinhua) — The guard of honor of the three services of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) take part in the military parade marking the 70th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War, in Moscow, Russia, May 9, 2015. (Xinhua/Jia Yuchen) (wf)

Russia and China announced the increase of joint military exercises in 2016.

Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu met with Chinese Defense Minister Chang Wanquan on April 27. The talks were held at the 5^th Moscow International Security Conference, TASS reports.

Shoigu said: “We highly appreciate a high level of Russian-Chinese contacts both at the state and defense levels. This year we are going to hold more exercises and events than in the past years,” and he added: “Here I would like to underscore that we will conduct both ground and naval exercises. Certainly, the aim is to strengthen mutually beneficial relations of partnership.”

Wanquan also said: “Thanks to personal efforts of the two heads of state over the past year, the relations between Russian and Chinese armed forces have been developing at the high level.”

Sputnik News published the news under the headline of “Bear and Dragon: Russia, China to Intensify Joint Military Drills in 2016”

Franz-Stefan Gady evaluated the topic at The Diplomat. He says: “China and Russia have steadily increased the number of military exercises over the past year. In 2015, both countries held naval and amphibious assault exercises in the Sea of Japan, a smaller naval drill in the Mediterranean, among a number of other bilateral military exchanges. Both countries have also participated in trilateral, and multilateral exercises, for example, under the umbrella of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). Russia and China do not have a formal military alliance and, as a consequence, do not practice complex integrated military operations on the scale NATO countries would.”

Joint military exercises still provide several benefits to both countries, in particular for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, Navy, and Air Force given that China has not fought a full-scale war in decades. Next to serving a confidence building function, the drills help improve Chinese and Russian tactical and operational capabilities. In addition, they send a signal to third parties (e.g., the United States) that both countries have an enduring security partnership.”