Chinese, Russian militaries hold drills in northwest China
BEIJING -- Chinese and Russian troops have engaged in joint exercises in northwestern China in a sign of growing military ties between Moscow and Beijing amid shared concerns over the instability in Afghanistan.
The military exercises involving ground troops and combat aircraft are to continue through Friday in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.
The region is located in northwestern China east of Xinjiang, where China has detained more than 1 million Uyghurs and members of other Muslim minorities in what it calls a campaign against terrorism and extremism. Critics say the detentions violate the human rights of a minority group.
Xinjiang shares a narrow frontier with Afghanistan, and Beijing is concerned about violence spilling over its border if the Taliban take control in Afghanistan following the pullout of U.S. troops.
While stopping short of creating a formal alliance, Russia and China have increasingly coordinated their military and foreign policies to oppose what they describe as the perceived U.S. global domination.
Read more: https://www.sunherald.com/news/nation-world/world/article253395240.html
(Gulfport Sun Herald)
