Russia-China strategic drills crowned with complete success — defense chief

MINNING TOWN /China/, August 13. /TASS/. The Sibu/Interaction 2021 joint Russia-China strategic drills were not aimed against any third countries and were crowned with a complete success, Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe said at a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergey Shoigu on Friday. "Today we observed together the practical operations of the troops at the Sibu/Interaction 2021 drills. The two sides achieved a complete success by their joint efforts at the drills," China’s defense chief said. As the Chinese defense minister emphasized, "these drills have great significance." "These are the first joint drills organized on the territory of China after the epidemic’s outbreak. And these are the first Chinese-Russian operational and strategic maneuvers with the participation of Russian servicemen," Wei Fenghe stressed. "Amid sweeping changes and the pandemic, the drills reflect the invariable support between China and Russia and show the high level of inter-army ties. These drills are not aimed against third countries and are focused on raising the capability to jointly respond to risks and challenges," the Chinese defense minister pointed out. China, Russia capable of maintaining peace and stability in region China and Russia are capable of maintaining peace and stability in the region by joint efforts. The joint maneuvers were well organized, the Chinese defense chief said. "The participating troops overcame a lot of negative factors, for example, the epidemic. They managed to set up a joint headquarters and joint groupings just within several days," Wei Fenghe said. The integrated control information system was tested for the first time during the drills, he pointed out. "The sides operated in a cohesive and coordinated manner and organized the process well and showed good interoperability," the Chinese defense chief said. "These drills are yielding obvious results as real warfare can be simulated at a very high level. This involves the methods of delivering a massive strike by firepower from all the sides, into the entire depth and helps organize firing interaction at big, medium and small heights and at large, medium and short ranges," he stressed. All these successes are an evidence of the high level of the two army’s fighting efficiency and the ability of the Chinese and Russian armies to fulfil counter-terror operations qualitatively, he added. In his estimate, "the success of the drills shows that China and Russia have the full resolve and confidence and are quite capable of maintaining peace and stability in the region by joint efforts." Beginning the talks with his Russian counterpart, the Chinese defense chief said that this had been their second meeting over just half a month. "This fully testifies to close relations between China and Russia, the indestructible ties between the Chinese and Russian servicemen and the strong and durable friendship between us personally," Wei Fenghe said. Read more