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.