posted on Mar, 17 2005 @ 08:05 PM
Matt Drudge has filed a report on his Drudge Report website detailing a conflict between the two giant countries. When the idea of a joint exercise
was proposed the Russians had initially suggested their exercise be conducted in the Xinjiang-Uigur autonomous region. The Chinese have however pushed
to change the format to involve marines in ZheJiang province near Taiwan.
www.drudgereport.com
MOSCOW, March 17. (RIA Novosti)-Yesterday, Chief of the Russian General Staff Yury Baluyevsky left for China to settle a scandal over the first
Russian-Chinese military exercise, Commonwealth-2005, which is due to be held this fall off the Yellow Sea coast, writes Kommersant.
The initial plans were to practice operational teamwork in combating terrorism during the exercise. However, Beijing, skillfully changing the format
of the exercise, has tried to re-orient the two countries' armies to practicing an invasion of Taiwan.
The choice of where the exercise will take place became a stumbling block. The Russian military selected the Xinjiang-Uigur autonomous region, basing
their choice on the area's problematic nature due to Uigur separatists and its proximity to Central Asia, which has become an arena in the fight
against international terrorism. However, Beijing flatly rejected the proposal. Instead, it suggested the Zhejiang province near Taiwan.
Please visit the link provided for the complete story.
So at first the Russians are trying to get the Chinese to focus on central Asia where lots of 'terrorism' seems to be incubating. However China
steals the spotlight and sneakily gets the Russians in on their plan to attack Taiwan.
Japan should feel a little nervous about now and we can expect some strong rhetoric to come from the USA. I think Putin might feel like he is in a
tight position, like the middle of an oreo cookie so to say. They cannot let the Chinese lose face by disagreement with them, nor can they strain
their relationship with them. They must follow through.
[edit on 17-3-2005 by 00PS]