Sino-Russian anti-missile drill successfully conducted in Beijing
People's Daily Online
(People's Daily Online) 15:10, December 18, 2017
A 6-day air defense drill conducted by Chinese and Russian troops was successfully concluded in Beijing on Dec.16, marking another milestone in the two nations' joint efforts to deal with regional ballistic and cruise missile threats.
The drill, dubbed Aerospace Security 2017 Chinese-Russian Anti-Ballistic Missile defense computer-simulated command post exercise, focused mainly on group discussion and computer stimulation, in an effort to tackle possible ballistic and cruise attacks against the two nations, according to a statement released by China's Ministry of Defense on Dec.17.
The military actions come amid the deployment of American THAAD batteries in the Asian-Pacific region, as well as the increasing tensions on the Korean Peninsula. Though both China and Russia have clarified that the exercise does not target any third party, many foreign media outlets speculated that the two nations are bolstering their air defense cooperation to demonstrate their power in the region.
"It must be emphasized that China and Russia are both against developing global anti-ballistic missile systems," read the statement. "Chinese and Russian militaries will intensify pragmatic anti-ballistic missile cooperation and jointly safeguard their security interests and regional strategic balance."
"Strategic anti-missile technologies are top military secrets for any nation. Most countries are prudent when it comes to such transnational cooperation, but due to further expansion of the U.S. global anti-missile system, such cooperation between China and Russian might be deepened in the future," Han Xiangdong, a military expert, told Thepaper.cn.
This is the second time that such military practice has been conducted by China and Russia, with the first being held in Moscow in May 2016.
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