PLA to participate in Vostok 2018 drills

[cirr]

PLA to participate in Vostok 2018 drills

By Guo Yuandan and Liu Xuanzun

Global Times

Published: 2018/8/21 21:43:40 Last Updated: 2018/8/21 23:39:54

For the first time the People's Liberation Army (PLA) will participate in Russia's Vostok military drills in a move that a Chinese expert said showcases their deepening strategic partnership.

In accordance with an agreement made by China and Russia, the Chinese military will take part in the Russian army's Vostok 2018 strategic drills from mid-late August to mid September in Russia, read a statement released by China's Ministry of National Defense on Monday.

The joint exercise will be held September 11-15 at the Tsugol training range in the Trans-Baikal region of Russia.

China will send about 3,200 officers and soldiers, more than 900 pieces of equipment and weaponry plus a combined 30 helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft, said the statement. Training will include mobile defense and counterattack.

PLA participation in Vostok 2018 indicates further deepening of China's strategic partnership with Russia, a military expert, who asked not to be named, told the Global Times on Monday.

Vostok drills used to be conducted by Russia only, with no foreign countries participating, the expert said.

Their aim is to strengthen strategic military partnership between the two countries, deepen friendship and cooperation between the two militaries and further boost the two countries' joint capability to deal with security threats, the ministry statement said.

The drill will contribute to regional security and is not directed against any third party, it said.

Unlike other China-Russia drills, Vostok 2018 focuses on traditional rather than non-traditional security threats, the anonymous expert said.

"People previously feared Russian Vostok drills were directed against China, but China's participation in the drills proves that theory wrong," the expert said.

Vostok 2018 will be unprecedented in the number of participating forces, the geographic scope and strength of command and control centers, the Russian news agency Tass quoted Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu as saying.

http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1116432.shtml

 

[cirr]

Russian military on alert for massive war games said to be the largest since Soviet games in the ’80s

By: The Associated Press   1 day ago

Russian artillery vehicles roll through Dvortsovaya Square during the Victory Day military parade in Saint Petersburg on May 9, 2018. Now military forces in Russia are on alert in preparation for the massive exercise Vostok (East) 2018. (Olga Maltseva/AFP/Getty Images)

MOSCOW — Russia’s military forces in the country’s east were put on high alert Monday ahead of massive war games that also involve China and Mongolia, the largest show of power in nearly 40 years, the Russian defense minister said.

Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said the five days of military drills will pave the way for the Vostok (East) 2018 military exercise. Shoigu said those maneuvers, set for next month, will be the largest since the massive Soviet war games in 1981.

The Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said President Vladimir Putin could attend the exercise.

Speaking to the top Russian military brass, Shoigu said army, air force and navy units will take part in the exercise that will be held across the Far East and Siberia. He added that military units from China and Mongolia will also take part.

As part of a smaller, separate military exercise this week under the auspices of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a security group dominated by Moscow and Beijing, Chinese warplanes(and about 700 officers and soldiers) landed Monday at a Russian air base in the Chelyabinsk region in the Ural Mountains.

The Russian military has increased both the scope and frequency of its maneuvers amid tensions with the West. It also has expanded military ties with China.

Moscow and Beijing have conducted a series of joint military maneuvers, including exercises in the South China Sea and navy drills in the Baltics last summer.

The two countries 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.

https://www.militarytimes.com/flash...be-the-largest-since-soviet-games-in-the-80s/

 

[TaiShang]

China and Mongolia will join. It is said to be the largest ever since the end of the Soviet Union.

According to (FAKE NEWS) CNN, China's participation will include 3,200 troops, 900 weapons, and 30 planes and helicopters.



@vostok

 

[rott]

I am wondering if the US and Japan ever try to go to war with China over the south China Sea islands, will Russia get involved.
@TaiShang @sinait

 

[sinait]

I am wondering if the US and Japan ever try to go to war with China over the south China Sea islands, will Russia get involved.

I don't think so.
They may help in other ways, but not directly.
They only played a covert role in the Korean war.
Major battles done by China.
They will do just enough for the adversaries to destroy each other.

I don't think the Russians wanted a dominant China, except now they needed help from China.
Russia didn't become so large because they were not aggressive or feel they were not superior.
Russia took land from China when China was weak.
Russia will not hesitate to take advantage of their neighbors.
It all boils down to self interest.
Afraid China have to mainly depend on themselves.
.

 

[ohmrlobalobayeh]

Lin zexu once said that china's true n greatest threat is russia.

Nth to feel proud about this vostok excercise. China will take b outer mongolia n the outer northeast

 

[MrSato1]

I don't think so.
They may help in other ways, but not directly.
They only played a covert role in the Korean war.
Major battles done by China.
They will do just enough for the adversaries to destroy each other.

I don't think the Russians wanted a dominant China, except now they needed help from China.
Russia didn't become so large because they were not aggressive or feel they were not superior.
Russia took land from China when China was weak.
Russia will not hesitate to take advantage of their neighbors.
It all boils down to self interest.
Afraid China have to mainly depend on themselves.
.

Funny thing is, while I am fully behind deepening china russia ties. Lets not forget that Russia or the soviets created “East Turkistan” in an attempt to seperate Xingjian from china much lkke they created and support mongolian independence and “forced” china to acceot while taking tuva from mongolia and confescating Mose of Manchuria!

 

[TaiShang]

I am wondering if the US and Japan ever try to go to war with China over the south China Sea islands, will Russia get involved.
@TaiShang @sinait

I think Russia would only be politically involved. Any further involvement would be clandestine (unofficial). Russia would be involved if only there was a chance that the US would come out victorious. But, that, again, is practically impossible, because such a scenario would necessitate China to mobilize strategic nuclear forces.

I also do not think Japan would be involved for the sake of the US.

 

[TaiShang]

Funny thing is, while I am fully behind deepening china russia ties. Lets not forget that Russia or the soviets created “East Turkistan” in an attempt to seperate Xingjian from china much lkke they created and support mongolian independence and “forced” china to acceot while taking tuva from mongolia and confescating Mose of Manchuria!

History matters. But practical considerations do matter, as well. In that sense, China-Russia strategic cooperation is significant.

If looked historically, NATO should not have come into existence because each member has some historical grudge on each other.

 

[ohmrlobalobayeh]

History matters. But practical considerations do matter, as well. In that sense, China-Russia strategic cooperation is significant.

If looked historically, NATO should have come into existence because each member has some historical grudge on each other.

Russians r thieves. Crimea is a modern example to addition to all their previous land grabs in the past 500 years.

 

[rott]

Russians r thieves. Crimea is a modern example to addition to all their previous land grabs in the past 500 years.

Bro, making too many enemies isn't a wise decision.

 

[TaiShang]

Bro, making too many enemies isn't a wise decision.

Agree. In international relations, practical interests are significant. To be bogged down in history will immobilize foreign relations, as we see in the erratic behavior of a certain Middle Eastern country in West Asia. Historical radicalism and weakness are a deadly mixture for the state actor.

 

[oprih]

Nice, China - Russia friendship all the way!

 

[Cybernetics]

 

[Dinky]

I am wondering if the US and Japan ever try to go to war with China over the south China Sea islands, will Russia get involved.
@TaiShang @sinait

If war does happen, then Russia will definantly join and help China, Because if China falls, then Russia will basically be alone against the US and its puppets. Not only that, no one wants to get encircled by a hostile power.