Is There A Threat In China And Russia Cooperating?

Is There A Threat In China And Russia Cooperating?

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Chinese and Russian forces conducted a joint amphibious exercise landing 400 marines on Russia’s Pacific Coast about 500 km away from Japan’s home islands. The exercise marks not only the first time People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) and Russian Navy have drilled together in an amphibious exercise but also the first time China has landed troops on foreign territory as part of the ongoing Joint Sea 2015 II. The PLAN landed the marines attached to an amphibious warship parked a little more than half a mile off the Russian Pacific coast.

In addition to amphibious landings, the Chinese also used aviation assets to move troops to the beach via parachutes and fast ropes via helicopters. The Chinese also employed fighters to provide air cover as part of the combined arms exercise.

The craft and tactics employed by the PLAN — well known for copying and adapting doctrine and material for their own needs — are reminiscent of the U.S. Marine methods of moving troops to shore via a doctrine that calls for enveloping an enemy by forces simultaneously via water landings and air insertion.

More than 20 ships from China and Russia participated in this exercize — the second joint Chinese-Russian exercise the year. The first joint exercize was held in the Mediterranean — a first for China.

The drills “are not targeted at any third party and are not relevant to regional status-quo,” a chinese source said, but are rather “part of an annual exchange program between Chinese and Russian militaries.” But even as China is quick to say the joint exercise isn’t aimed to raise a red flag to any particular nation, the PLA has long prepared training operations to simulate a potential amphibious invasion of Taiwan as well as operations that have arguably simulated the quick capture and control the Japanese administrated Senkaku Islands off of Taiwan’s eastern coast. Furthermore, USNI reports that Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said last year that the U.S. was a factor in the increased motivation for China-Russia military training.

The drill itself might not pose a threat just yet, but a military trained in operating the way to its goals, goals which are not accepted by the West, to say the least, should raise a few eyebrows. So should the sudden armed friendship between two countries, both fairly hostile to the West, who should keep a close eye on this growing friendship.

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