via Xinhua
The scale of the ongoing "Peace Mission 2014" joint military drill is the largest to date, a Chinese Defense Ministry spokesperson said on Thursday.Russia in Ukraine is a European problem (in my opinion).
The exercise is being held from Aug. 24 to 29 at Zhurihe training base in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, in accordance with the 2014-2015 defense ministry cooperation plan among Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) members.
Spokesperson Yang Yujun told a regular news briefing the drill is progressing smoothly, with troop exercises beginning Friday.
Yang said the exercise will play an important role in deterring the "three evil forces" of terrorism, separatism and extremism, safeguarding regional peace and stability and improving the military's ability to coordinate fights against terrorism.
The exercise is the fifth multinational drill under the SCO framework. Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan sent armed forces by land and air in early August.
Russia teamed with China in the Pacific is a US problem (in my opinion).
Time for a little straight talk. We can't have a true NATO type alliance where countries come to each others defense if attacked by China because the region is still suffering the effects of centuries of rivalries and ethnic hatred.
So be it.
But that means that all these glorious plans of a 1000 ship Navy and partnership missions is just bullshit seeking to pacify policy makers when it comes to spending the necessary funds on defense to keep the Dragon in its cage. One other thing to consider. Those two Mistrals that were bought (along with the expertise to produce more) has everyone thinking that they're aimed at European operations...maybe some actions in the Middle East. I say bullshit. I'm betting that those ships are aimed at the Pacific.
One Mistral is for Black Sea Fleet and other for Pacific Fleet.
ReplyDeleteBaltic is to shallow, narrow and small for ship of that size, too many anti ship land batteries there to make Mistrals a perfect shooting target. The seas of North are also bad place for this kind of ship. So future units of this class will probably reinforce Pacific Fleet. And it will be the problems of Japan and US to send them to the Davy Jones' Locker,.
I thought they were both headed for the Pacific. The Japanese had been making noises to France about the sale.
ReplyDeleteThe first version was that both will go to Pacific Fleet... then that one will go to Baltic Sea Fleet...then that "Vladivostok" will go Vladivostok and "Sevastopol" will go to... no surprise, Sevastopol (Black Sea Fleet).
DeleteIn theory both and in official both are going for Pacific Fleet now. But this can change 100 times.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-Soviet_border_conflict
ReplyDeleteThese arent minor squabbles like those between Spain and Portugal, Spain and the UK, Spain and Morocco, or even larger squabbles like the Falklands islands.
Vast tracts of Russia are claimed by China, some, wilderness of little note, but others, like Vladivostok, are areas the Russian Federation would go nuclear over in a heart beat.
They could cooperate absolutely, or they could fight as much as France did with its Saar invasion in 1939.