Chinese and Russian troops train in northwestern China

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China and Russia are conducting joint military exercises in northwestern China as a sign of expanding military relations between Moscow and Beijing.

In the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, exercises involving ground troops and fighters will continue until August 13.

The region is located in northwestern China, east of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. This is where the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) detained more than one million Uighurs. Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Uzbeks, Tajiks, And other religious minorities in forced labor camps.

The United States has declared China’s detention of Uighurs as a genocide, and said China is responding to “terrorist activity” in the region.

Beijing said the joint exercise was an opportunity to alleviate local concerns about the potential overflow of violence due to the increased conflict in Afghanistan following the withdrawal of US Allied forces.

China shares a 46-mile (76-kilometer) border with Afghanistan.

The news of the exercise came after Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with the Taliban representative last month. The agenda of the meeting was not open to the public. However, the Taliban representative in July described the CCP as a “friend.” Affection was rewarded by the editor-in-chief of Global Times, China’s national mouthpiece.

This exercise is the first time China has invited Russia to its territory for a military simulation exercise. It is also the first time China has exhibited cutting-edge weapons and equipment, such as the J-20 stealth fighter, which has never appeared in joint military exercises.

China and Russia have been increasingly coordinating military and foreign policy beyond a formal alliance.

In 2020, China participates in Russia’s Kavkaz 2020 strategic military exercise in Central Russia, India Withdrawal From an exercise due to a border dispute with China.

Chinese mass media Huanqiu said that the increase in military cooperation between the two countries was confident between Beijing and Moscow.Unprecedented level.. “

The Russian Defense Ministry said the training event was “a level of military cooperation and friendship between the two armed forces” and strengthening relations between the two countries.

Russia also supported the Chinese administration in a sovereignty dispute in the South China Sea, which made Beijing confront the United States and its allies.

China states that its territorial disputes overlap with its US allies Taiwan, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam. CCP’s increasingly militant actions in the region, including the construction of seven disputed coral reefs at missile-protected island bases, have locked countries in increasingly tense territorial conflicts.

A 2016 international arbitration ruling invalidated Beijing’s allegations in the South China Sea, but Beijing refused to leave anything in the region.

In response to China’s increasingly aggressive allegations against the region, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned that conflicts in China and the sea would “have a serious global impact on security and commerce.”

In this area, “dangerous encounters between vessels at sea and provocative actions to advance illegal maritime claims” were seen, and “other states have legal access to maritime resources.” I’m threatening and bullying, “Blinken said.

The Epoch Times contributed to this report.

Associated Press

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