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China, Russia to hold more exercises

WEIFANG (SHANDONG): Russia and China plan to hold more joint military exercises to improve the combat skills and professional levels of their militaries, said Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov here on Friday.

Mr. Ivanov said Russia and China had no intention of establishing a military alliance of any form. Maintaining regional peace and stability are the goals of the two countries as members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, said Mr. Ivanov at a press conference jointly held with Chinese Defence Minister Cao Gangchuan.

``We have time and again stated that our joint military exercises are not targeted at any third party,'' Mr. Ivanov said.

"In recent years Russia has taken part in quite a few multilateral and bilateral military exercises, why can't we have such manoeuvres with our Chinese friends?''

Mr. Ivanov spoke highly of the exercises, saying they ``fully reflected and proved the maturity of Russia-China military cooperation, and raised such cooperation to a new level.''

The first-ever Sino-Russian joint exercises, which started on August 18 in Russia's Far East and then moved to the Shandong Peninsula in east China, ended on Thursday. — Xinhua

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