On August 16, 2005, Mark Magnier and Kim Murphy contributed the story
for Los Angeles Times on the joint military exercise between Russia and
China around Shandong.
Read the whole article in
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-081605exercise_lat,0,6421778.story
An outline of the article:
* China and Russia billed this military maneuver as a
cooperation fight against terrorism, but they also sent
a message to Wa****ngton: Don't push the two former Cold
War adversaries too far.
* The exercise is 8 day long, to begin on Thursday, and
it involves around 1,800 troops from Russia and 8,000
from China.
* Ni Lexiong, a military expert at Shanghai Normal
University, said, "Part of the exercise is beach landing
and sea-air deployment, which has nothing to do with
fighting terrorism...... Generally, it's being held
because of the long-term U.S. aggressive military stance
toward China and Russia."
* Even as ties increase, Moscow is thought to be wary of
China's growing economic and political clout and fearful
that the sparsely populated Russian Far East could
become a de facto Chinese colony.
* Russia has balked at selling Beijing its most advanced
military hardware - and items it does sell may come
with strings attached. Some Chinese websites suggest
that Moscow sold Beijing SU-27 fighters on the condition
that they remain south of the Yangtze River.
* Russia re****tedly wanted the exercise staged in Central
Asia, while Beijing wanted it just off Taiwan. Shandong
Peninsula was re****tedly a compromise to avoid a strong
Wa****ngton reaction.
* Some analysts also see the exercise as a way for Moscow
to showcase its arms.
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