Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

MND TO KEEP AN EYE ON UPCOMING CHINA-RUSSIA WAR GAMES

ROC Central News Agency

2005-08-16 20:04:10

    Taipei, Aug. 15 (CNA) The Ministry of National Defense (MND) will closely monitor China-Russia war games scheduled to start Thursday, military spokesman Liu Chih-chien said Tuesday.

    In his view, Liu said, the maneuvers are a step short of a joint military exercise because they will not have a common command platform.

    Judging from the number of troops and high-tech military equipment to be mobilized by Russia in the drills, Liu said, the event is mainly aimed at showing off Russia's advanced arsenal.

    The drills are also designed to deepen the two countries' mutual trust and beef up their abilities to fight terrorism, Liu added.

    The unusual joint exercises will run until Aug. 25, Liu said. They will be conducted in three stages, including a computerized war simulation at the Russian port of Vladivostok, anti-terrorist maneuvers and amphibious landing on China's Jiaodong peninsula.

    Meanwhile, the U.S. government said Monday it hopes the exercises will not de-stabilize the region.

    State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said that both Beijing and Moscow had informed Washington about the exercises. "We are following the exercises," McCormack said. "We expect them to be conducted in a manner that supports some mutual goal of regional stability shared by the United States, China and Russia."

    McCormack further said the United States will not have any observers at the war games. "But we would hope that anything that they do is not something that would be disruptive to the current atmosphere in the region," he added.

(By Sofia Wu)

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