Posted on 08/05/2005 7:10:56 PM PDT by Bald Eagle777
.S. military officials said yesterday they will be watching closely as China and Russia prepare for unprecedented joint military exercises later this month to be staged on a Chinese province close to the Korean Peninsula. Dubbed "Peace Mission 2005," the Aug. 18 to 25 exercises between the two Cold War rivals will involve about 10,000 troops, as well as Russian fighter planes and paratroopers and China's growing nuclear submarine fleet. ....
The exercises, seen as hard evidence of a warming alliance between the two powers against U.S. influence in Asia, have sparked concern across the region, particularly in Taiwan, which China claims is a breakaway province. The Chinese defense ministry said this week that the exercises are designed to "strengthen the capability of the two armed forces in jointly striking international terrorism, extremism and separatism." Russian officials have been wary of being dragged into the Taiwan dispute, insisting that the war games are not directed against any third party. But Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov rejected suggestions that the war games be scaled back to ease the concerns of others in the region. ...
Moscow and Beijing share an interest in curbing U.S. influence in Central Asia, where the Pentagon has established several military bases in the wake of the war in Afghanistan. More generally, both capitals have endorsed a "multipolar world" -- an implicit challenge to U.S. economic and military dominance. Defense ministers from the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a new grouping of six Central Asian nations dominated by China and Russia, have been formally invited to observe the games. ...
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/eng/topics/sco/t57970.htm
Talk about stating the obvious.
NO WAY!
....but,....the New...."Rising Sun Flag"...Japan will be!
Japan needs hundreds of new nuclear missiles!
/sarcasm?
How "obvious" do you think this was early Dec. 2004? Who do you think was watching then? Any ideas?
I was referring to the headline. It's a no-brainer that we're going to monitor the exercises.
Chicken fried lice and vodka don't mix.
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