Peace Mission 2005

The dubiously named Peace Mission 2005, a series of wargames with combined Russian and Chinese troops, continued today with the biggest display of force in the two week exercise.

Chinese, Russian Troops Join War Games
By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN
Associated Press Writer Tue Aug 23, 2:22 AM ET

SHANGHAI, China - Nearly 9,000 Russian and Chinese troops began a mock assault on the beaches of northern China Tuesday in the final stage of unprecedented joint war games between the two former Cold War rivals.

The live-fire exercise, dubbed "Peace Mission 2005," involves about 7,000 Chinese troops and 1,800 Russians, along with warships, warplanes and amphibious tanks.

Operations began with a simulated naval blockade off the coast of the Shandong Peninsula in the Yellow Sea, southeast of Beijing, China's official Xinhua News Agency reported. Chinese state television showed ships and warplanes firing missiles and rockets while military music blared from shipboard speakers.

Right. Peace Mission. A peace mission that just happens to fit exactly how the Red Chinese would go about an invasion of Taiwan. Why is it that Communists have to advertise their military exercises in ostentatious displays of propaganda?

Chinese participants included three destroyers, three frigates and one submarine, along with naval aircraft, Xinhua said. They were joined by an anti-submarine vessel, missile destroyer, helicopters and a surveillance plane from the Russian navy, it said.

Top Chinese and Russian generals have sought to reassure the region that the exercises aren't directed against any third nation. Under the fictional scenario for the exercises, the forces have a U.N. mandate to stabilize a country plunged into violence by ethnic strife.

Yet Chinese media have also said the exercises are intended to advertise China's determination to deal with regional terrorist, extremist and separatist threats — the last a likely reference to self-governing Taiwan, which China has vowed to reclaim by force if necessary.

The games "will frighten the three evil forces of 'ethnic separatism, religious extremism and international terrorism,'" Maj. Gen. Peng Guanglian, a frequent hardline critic of Taiwan and the United States, was quoted as saying in an interview with the Shanghai's Oriental Morning Post.

The eight-day exercises were inaugurated last week in the Russian port of Vladivostok; they end Thursday.

The war games reflect strengthening ties between Russia and China over shared concerns about U.S. dominance of world affairs. U.S. officials have said they are watching the exercises closely and hope they will help support regional stability.

Russia is also seeking to sell more arms to China, one of its leading customers, including long-range strategic bombers able to carry nuclear weapons.

The exercises have sparked controversy in Russia over how closely the nation should cooperate with China, which many Russians see as a potential threat because of its size, economic might and proximity to sparsely populated, resource-rich Siberia.

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I'm absolutely serious when I say that we'll have to fight the bastards someday. I certainly hope the Russians will stay out of the fight. In the meantime, let's keep spreading western consumerism. Maybe they'll start buying more of our stuff.