BTW I think he makes too much of the use of the word
"comrade." "Comrade" has about as much political
meaning in Russia as "sir" does in English.
PRC: Renmin Wang Article Views Upcoming Sino-Russian
Military Exercises
Beijing Renmin Wang WWW-Text in Chinese 09 Jul 04
[Article appearing on Renmin Wang homepage by
Russian-based correspondent, Lu Yansong, and
contributing correspondent Gu Xiaoqing: "Huanqiu
Shibao: China and Russia To Hold Their First-ever
Bilateral Military Exercise"]
The Chinese and Russian armed forces both have
glorious histories, and they are also important forces
in maintaining world peace and stability today. As a
major aspect of the Sino-Russian strategic cooperative
partnership, cooperation between their armed forces is
continually deepening. On 6 July, PRC Central
Military Commission [CMC] Vice Chairman Guo Boxiong
and Russian Minister of National Defense Ivanov signed
a memorandum in Moscow on holding joint Sino-Russian
military exercises. This means that the Chinese and
Russian armed forces will hold their historic first
bilateral joint military exercise.
China and Russia Will Stage "Higher Scale Military
Exercises"
The weather in Moscow in early July is beautiful
and the scene is pleasant. At the invitation of
Russian Minister of National Defense Ivanov, CMC Vice
Chairman Colonel General Guo Boxiong is heading a
delegation on a five-day official visit to Russia.
Although the military delegation's activities are
low key, the journalists could see from their chest
badges that it includes many well-known generals, such
as Beijing Military Region Commander General Zhu Qi,
Second Artillery Corps Political Commissar Lieutenant
General Peng Xiaofeng, Navy Deputy Commander Vice
Admiral Wang Yucheng, Air Force Deputy Commander
Lieutenant General Wang Chaoqun, and CMC General
Office Deputy Director Major General Wang Guanzhong.
The Ministry of National Defense building in
central Moscow appeared particularly grand on the
morning of 6 July. When the Chinese military
delegation's cars arrived at the building, Defense
Minister Ivanov was awaiting them in the hall on the
first floor. After a brief welcoming ceremony, the
leaders of the two armed forces held formal talks.
During the talks, Guo Boxiong stated that along with
the development of Sino-Russian relations, exchanges
and cooperation between their armed forces are being
stepped up all the time, and relations between their
armed forces are developing in healthy and steady
fashion. Ivanov stated that Russian-Chinese military
relations are now developing extremely smoothly, and
Russia is satisfied at this.
After the talks ended, leaders of the two armed
forces signed a memorandum on holding joint
Sino-Russian military exercises. Ivanov told
reporters: "We have already instructed the two general
staff departments to prepare for the joint exercise."
Guo Boxiong said for his part that the signing of the
memorandum is an important step in the development of
Sino-Russian military relations.
Since there is some time to go before the joint
exercises are held, the two sides did not reveal the
details. According to the Russian media, the joint
exercises will start next year. According to the
analysis of Russian military experts, since the
Russians call this a "higher scale exercise," the
number of troops participating will not be too small.
As for the exercise location, since the western
section of the Sino-Russian border is only 50 km long
and very mountainous, it is not a good place for
mobility and spreading out, so the eastern section of
the border would be more suitable. At present the
eastern section of the border is on the Chinese side
the defense zone of Shenyang Military Region, while on
the Russian side it is the defense zone of the Far
East Military District and Siberian Military District.
Russian military figures hold the view that it is
most likely that Shenyang Military Region and the Far
East Military District will assign units to the
exercise. Judging by joint exercises held by China
and Russia with foreign armies in recent years,
antiterrorism will be the primary option for exercise
content.
Conditions are Ripe for Success in Sino-Russian
Military Exercises
Since the founding of new China, the People's
Liberation Army [PLA] has never held a bilateral
military exercise with Soviet (Russian) forces.
According to reports, the Soviet, Chinese, and DPRK
held a multilateral exercise in the Soviet coastal
region in 1958. China never held a joint exercise
with a foreign army for 44 years after that.
China and Kyrgyzstan held a joint antiterrorism
exercise codenamed "01" in Xinjiang in October 2002,
thus raising the curtain on joint exercises between
China and foreign forces. In August 2003, members of
the Shanghai Cooperation Organization held a joint
antiterrorism exercise codenamed "Union-2003" on the
Kazakhstan-China border. When the Russian armed
forces held their "East-2003" exercise in the far east
in August the same year, they invited Chinese
observers to inspect it.
Due to changes in northeast Asia, since the
mid-1990's the United States has not only held annual
joint exercises with its allies such as the Republic
of Korea and Japan, but has even sent troops to
Mongolia and central Asia, on the periphery of both
China and Russia, to hold joint exercises. In
contrast, cooperation in training between the Chinese
and Russian armed forces has never been able to get
going. People of foresight realize that this state
of affairs does not meet the demand of developing the
bilateral strategic cooperative partnership.
This year the PLA has intensified joint exercises
with foreign forces, and has held joint exercises with
the Indian and British navies. At the same time,
Russia has respectively held joint exercises codenamed
"Torgau-2004" and "Kaliningrad-2004" with the United
States and NATO. In these circumstances, conditions
are ripe for China and Russia to succeed in holding
joint military exercises.
There are many exceptionally advantageous
conditions for the holding of Sino-Russian joint
exercises: First of all, the command and structure
of their armed forces are quite similar; second, they
have the same system of armaments; third, China has
sent many military students to Russian military
schools and academies for advanced studies, and it is
relatively easy for officers of the two armies to
communicate with each other. In recent years,
neighboring military districts in the border region
have held radio communications drills, and this too
has laid a certain foundation for holding joint
military exercises.
High-level Exchanges Between the Two Armies Enter
an Active Period
Analysts point out there is a major background to
Sino-Russian military exercises, that is, high-level
exchanges between the two armed forces have entered an
active period.
There has been a marked reduction of troop reviews
for foreign leaders since Russia reformed its protocol
system. In the past few months, however, reporters
have seen inspections of honor guards by three Chinese
generals. Moscow was bitterly cold on 16 December
2003. Amid solemn martial music, a Russian army
honor guard prepared for inspection in front of the
towering memorial in Victory Square. After 10
minutes or so, a number of black saloons drove into
the square. A stocky general walked briskly toward
the honor guard. Many there were visibly moved at
the sound of the cordial greeting "Zdravstvuyete,
Tovarishchi!" (Russian for "Greetings, Comrades!").
This general was PRC CMC Vice Chairman, State
Councillor, and Minister of National Defense Cao
Gangchuan, a graduate of the Moscow Artillery Academy.
On 7 May 2004, CMC member and PLA Chief of Staff
Liang Guanglie and CMC Vice Chairman Guo Boxiong also
inspected in turn the honor guard in Victory Square.
A "craze for visiting China" has also been whipped
up among senior Russian officers. Last March, First
Deputy Chief of Staff Colonel General Baluyevskiy led
a group to Beijing to attend strategic consultations
between the Chinese and Russian general staffs. In
April, Ivanov again visited China after being
reappointed minister of defense. The Russian armed
forces chief of staff and air force commander will
also visit China this year.
A Russian colleague said: "There are at least two
points worth noting about Russia-China military
exchanges. First, the generals of the two countries
all call each other 'comrade.' Among Russian military
men, 'comrade' is the most sacred word. Second, the
two armed forces are all-weather friends. Although
Russia maintains military ties with many countries,
its exchanges with the Chinese armed forces are the
closest."
Seven "Mosts" Encapsulate Bilateral Military
Relations
Russia holds an extremely important position in
the overall picture of the Chinese armed forces'
foreign exchanges. A Chinese Defense Ministry
official interviewed by us used seven "mosts" to
encapsulate relations between the two armed forces.
He said: "Exchanges between the Chinese and Russian
armed forces have been the longest; mutual visits of
senior officers and specialized delegations have been
most frequent in recent years; the strategic
consultations held by the two chiefs of staff
departments have produced the most notable results;
the content of bilateral military technology
cooperation has been the richest and the scope the
broadest; China has sent the largest number of
military students to Russian military academies and
schools; and mutual trust between the two armed forces
is the deepest."
The Russians have similar understandings in this
respect. Russian State Duma National Defense
Committee Chairman Zavarzin was interviewed on the eve
of Guo Boxiong's visit. He held the view that the
objective conditions exist for developing friendly
relations between Russia and China, and so long as
they join hands, they can resolve many crises in the
world. He said: "Many people now do not like such
close and friendly relations between Russia and China,
but this relationship has been formed by history,
because there is a long border between us, and an
enduring history of cooperation."
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