China-Russia military drill expected to focus on security in Central Asia
- Chinese analyst says exercise is not aimed at the US and other Western nations
- It will run for five days from next week with more than 10,000 soldiers taking part
Zhou Chenming, a researcher from the Yuan Wang military science and technology institute in Beijing, said security and stability in Central Asia was the focus of the drill, as the last of the US and Nato troops leave war-torn Afghanistan after 20 years.
“The joint drill will be ground forces-oriented and not any threat to the US and other Western countries that might be concerned about the activities of the Chinese and Russian missile forces,” Zhou said. “Their missile forces haven’t had any formal exchanges or joint exercises so far because neither side would want to share missile data, their top defence secrets,” he added.
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Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported that Russia had sent five Su-30 fighter jets to Ningxia for the drill, but Zhou noted they were not the latest warplanes and did not expect them to play a key role.
“If the Russian air force had instead sent their new generation Su-57s to take part in a joint drill with the People’s Liberation Army, that would be the highlight and a significant move,” he said.
Still, the PLA is likely to benefit from the exchanges and will be able to draw on Russian experience, according to Lu Li-Shih, a former instructor at Taiwan’s Naval Academy in Kaohsiung.
“The Chinese and Russian militaries share a lot of common ground in terms of weapon design, combat strategies and tactics, which are so different from those of Western countries,” Lu said. “Russia may share their armed drone combat tactics from the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict [between Azerbaijan and Armenia].”
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It is the first joint military drill China has hosted since the pandemic began and the first Zapad/Interaction exercise. It will be held at the PLA’s Qingtongxia Joint Tactical Training Base in Ningxia.
Chinese defence ministry spokesman Wu Qian on Thursday said the aim of the drill was to “consolidate cooperation” and “maintain regional peace and security”. He said troops from the PLA’s Western Theatre Command and Russia’s Eastern Military District would take part. A joint command centre would be set up, with exercises to focus on aircraft, artillery and armoured equipment, as well as joint reconnaissance, early warnings, electronic and information attacks and joint strikes.
