Thread: An Exercise Fit for Sending U.S. a Message

I wonder why nobody talk about this...

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationwo...=la-home-world

An Exercise Fit for Sending U.S. a Message
Joint troop maneuvers by China and Russia this week point to wariness about America's strong presence in their backyards, analysts say.

By Mark Magnier and Kim Murphy, Times Staff Writers


BEIJING — As they prepare to join forces for their largest military exercise in modern history, China and Russia have billed this week's maneuvers as a cooperative fight against terrorism. But they're also sending a message to Washington, analysts say: Don't push the two former Cold War adversaries too far.

The eight-day exercise, which will begin Thursday, will be the most extensive since Beijing and Moscow fought together against U.S.-led forces during the Korean War half a century ago. Billed as a modest exercise when proposed last year, it has grown in scope to include nearly 10,000 troops using a range of sophisticated weapons systems.

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"I can't help but think it's intended as a bit of a poke in the eye at the U.S., a way of [China] saying, 'We do have good relations with Russia,' " said Eric McVadon, a retired U.S. admiral and Asia-Pacific director at the Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis in Washington.

Moscow and Beijing said in their respective announcements this month that their Peace Mission 2005 exercise would kick off in the Russian Far East port of Vladivostok but would take place largely in and around China's Shandong peninsula and was aimed at countering terrorism, extremism and separatism.

"Part of the exercise is beach landing and sea-air deployment, which has nothing to do with fighting terrorism," said Ni Lexiong, a military expert teaching at Shanghai Normal University. "Generally, it's being held because of the long-term U.S. aggressive military stance toward China and Russia."

Even as the Bush administration expresses growing concern about China's military buildup, Beijing and Moscow have bridled at the United States' recent moves in their backyard.

Those include announced troop redeployments in South Korea and Japan designed to create a leaner, more responsive force as well as the redeployment of long-range bombers and nuclear attack submarines to Guam, part of a stated goal of bolstering the U.S. presence in the Asia-Pacific region.

Also worrisome, particularly for Moscow, has been the United States' expanding military presence in oil-rich Central Asia, part of Russia's traditional sphere of influence. The former Soviet states of Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan have seen the toppling of their autocratic, Russian-leaning governments over the last 18 months, replaced by elected regimes that lean toward the West.

Beijing also has bristled at criticism of its military buildup from U.S. conservatives, including a high-profile speech in June by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld in Singapore and the July 19 release of a Pentagon report that calls China a potential long-term threat.

"I'm not sure Russia and China are trying to deter the U.S. outright," said Andrew Yang, secretary-general of the Chinese Council of Advanced Policy Studies in Taiwan. "But they see this [region] as their territory, and they're trying to counter-balance the U.S. position by taking a more proactive stance."

In a thinly veiled jab at America's sole superpower status, Russian President Vladimir V. Putin and his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao, denounced the "aspiration for monopoly and domination in international affairs" in a joint declaration last month during a Moscow summit.

Analysts see limits to the Chinese-Russian relationship, however, with some characterizing the military exercise as a marriage of convenience. 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.

Although it has provided an abundance of arms to China, 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, a sizable distance from the Russian border.

The exercise will involve 1,800 Russian troops and nearly 8,000 of their Chinese counterparts as well as Russian antisubmarine vessels, a large landing ship, a destroyer and 17 military transport and fighter jets.

Analysts say the exercise's location reflects insecurity in both capitals over the breakup or further dissolution of their empires.

Russia reportedly wanted the exercise staged in Central Asia, while Beijing wanted it just off Taiwan, which it considers a renegade province. The area around the Shandong peninsula was reportedly a compromise to avoid a strong Washington response over Taiwan.

Both sides have denied any bid to target a third party or send a broader political message.

"The exercise has nothing to do with interests of a third state such as Taiwan or North Korea," Col. Gen. Vladimir Moltenskoi, deputy commander in chief of Russian land forces, said at a briefing in Moscow early this month. "The objective of the exercise is to deepen cooperation between the two countries in the spheres of defense and security."

That cooperation has often been in short supply. The two then-communist allies fell out in the late 1950s and almost went to war, leading to decades of mutual suspicion.

However, a landmark agreement last year settling a series of disputes along their 2,700-mile border has removed a major irritant, and both sides are placing priority on improving relations.