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China, Russia finish military exercise

BEIJING - Thousands of Chinese and Russian troops wrapped up their first joint military exercises Thursday with a mock invasion by paratroopers on China's east coast.

The eight-day maneuvers with 7,000 Chinese troops and 1,800 Russians underscored growing military ties between the former Cold War enemies, motivated by their common unease with U.S. dominance in world affairs.

On Thursday, Chinese and Russian paratroopers simulated the seizure of an airfield as planes dropped combat vehicles by parachute on the Shandong Peninsula in the Yellow Sea, China's official Xinhua News Agency reported.

Propaganda leaflets fell from the sky in "a psychological tactic to shake the enemy's will," according to Xinhua.

"The exercise ended with the defeat of the "enemy,"' the agency said.

Russia's Interfax news agency also portrayed the operation as a success, saying Russian planes landed 10 combat vehicles and two armored personnel carriers by parachute in high winds.

"The military exercise deserves a high praise," Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov was quoted as saying by the ITAR-Tass news agency. "Both the Russian and Chinese troops effectively coordinated their actions, because they clearly understood the joint mission they fulfilled."

Ivanov and his Chinese counterpart, Cao Gangchuan, were on hand to watch the exercises. They were joined by defense ministers or deputy defense ministers from Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan - the other members of a six-nation group led by Beijing and Moscow that is meant to combat Islamic extremism in Central Asia.

China's secretive military barred Western reporters and Russian media were denied access to Chinese forces.

Earlier drills included a mock amphibious assault and a sea battle.

The exercise, dubbed "Peace Mission 2005," was inaugurated last week in the Russian port of Vladivostok and shifted on Saturday to China.

Ties between the two governments have warmed since the Soviet collapse in the early 1990s.

China has become the biggest foreign buyer of Russian arms and looks to Russia as a source of oil and gas for its booming economy.

Ivanov, who was in China for the exercise, said this week the unprecedented cooperation was based on a "strategic partnership," Interfax reported.

On Wednesday, Chinese and Russian troops launched a mock amphibious beach landing.

State TV showed landing craft disgorging troops in a light rain while bombers and fighter jets attacked imaginary targets. Soldiers charged through seaside scrub and rappelled from helicopters.

Chinese and Russian officials said the exercises were based on a scenario of a joint mission to stabilize a fictional country. Commanders from both sides tried to reassure the region that they weren't directed against any other nation.

"The military exercise did not affect in any way the interests of any other country," ITAR-Tass quoted Ivanov as saying. "Its purpose is to train joint actions for fighting terrorism."

The games also gave Russia a chance to show off high-tech bombers and other equipment that it hopes Beijing will buy.

[Last modified August 26, 2005, 01:38:04]