Experts: Military drills with Russia not aimed at others

BEIJING: The Chinese military’s participation in the Vostok-2022(East-2022) military exercises organised by Russia does not target any third party and is intended to safeguard regional peace and stability, experts said.

They said the West is trying to damage China’s global public image amid the Ukraine crisis by hyping up China’s attendance at the drills and criticising China-Russia military cooperation as a so-called “threat” to global peace and order.

Li Yongquan, director of the Eurasian Social Development Research Institute at the Development Research Center of the State Council, said the joint military drills were conducted as planned and were definitely not targeting any third party.

“China-Russia ties feature non-alliance, non-confrontation and non-targeting of any third party, which is a basic principle for all-around international affairs between the two countries,” he said, adding that the Russian drills have been conducted frequently and didn’t target any other party.

In mid-August, China’s Ministry of National Defense said in a statement that the People’s Liberation Army’s participation in the exercises, which started on Wednesday, was in accordance with the annual cooperation plan between the Chinese and Russian militaries and was not related to the current international or regional situation.

It aims to deepen practical and friendly cooperation among the militaries of participating countries, enhance strategic coordination and strengthen the militaries’ ability to cope with various security threats, it said.

More than 2,000 Chinese troops – from the Ground Force, Navy and Air Force affiliated with the Northern Theater Command of the PLA – are taking part in the exercises, according to Xinhua News Agency.

They arrived at the drill sites by railway, sea, air and motorised transportation, equipped with over 300 vehicles of various types, 21 airplanes and three warships.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the drills involve a total of 6,000 foreign troops from member states and partners of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the Collective Security Treaty Organization of former Soviet republics and other countries.

Xu Tao, a former researcher at China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations and deputy director for Eurasian Social Development Research at the DRC of the State Council, said the diversity of participating countries fully reflects that the joint exercises are an open military exchange event, not as some Western countries and media have claimed. — China Daily/ANN