Russia launches biggest war games in decades involving neighbor China
Maneuvers seen as warning to U.S.
CHITA, Russia — Hundreds of thousands of Russian troops swept across Siberia on Tuesday in the nation’s largest ever war games and were joined by China — a powerful show of burgeoning military ties between Moscow and Beijing amid their tensions with the U.S.
Moscow said the weeklong Vostok (East) 2018 maneuvers will span vast expanses of Siberia and the Far East, the Arctic and the Pacific oceans and involve nearly 300,000 Russian troops — nearly one-third of the country’s 1-millionstrong military. They will feature more than 1,000 aircraft, about 36,000 tanks and other military vehicles and 80 warships.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has described the drills as even bigger than the country’s largest Cold War-era exercise called Zapad 1981 that put NATO allies on edge.
A retired Russian general said that the giant war games come as a warning to the U.S. against ramping up pressure on Russia.
“The maneuvers are aimed at deterring the aggressive intentions of the U.S. and NATO,” retired Gen. Leonid Ivashov said. He was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying that the drills are “also a response to the U.S. sanctions.”
China is sending about 3,200 troops, 900 combat vehicles and 30 aircraft to join the drills at a Siberian firing range, a significant deployment that reflects its shift toward a full-fledged military alliance with Russia. Mongolia also has sent a military contingent.
Asked if the U.S. is worried about a possible military alliance between Russia and China, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told Pentagon reporters Tuesday that, “I think that nations act out of their interests. I see little in the long term that aligns Russia and China.”
As the maneuvers kicked off, Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Russia on Tuesday to attend an economic forum in Vladivostok. President Vladimir Putin treated Mr. Xi to pancakes with caviar and shots of vodka in a show of their warm rapport.
Moscow and Beijing have forged what they described as a “strategic partnership,” expressing their shared opposition to the “unipolar” world, the term they use to describe perceived U.S. global domination. However, the military drills they had until now were far smaller in scale, reflecting China’s caution about alliances.
The Chinese media touted the Chinese involvement in the maneuvers as the country’s largest-ever dispatch of forces abroad for war games.
Some noted that the People’s Liberation Army, which hasn’t fought a war since the attempted invasion of Vietnam in 1979, is keen to learn from Russia’s experience in the Syrian campaign, where it tested its latest weapons and tactics.
From China’s perspective, the emerging military alliance with Russia sends a signal to the U.S. and its ally Japan as Beijing moves to defend its interests in the South China Sea, which China claims in its entirety, as well as Taiwan and the Senkaku and Diaoyu islands controlled by Japan.