Military exercises to continue, expand

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Russia's unprecedented military exercises with China went so well last month that they may be expanded to include several Central and South Asian countries, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said.

Mr. Ivanov, in a Russian television interview Tuesday, said Moscow was considering staging larger joint exercises involving the six-nation Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a four-year-old regional grouping dominated by Moscow and Beijing.

"I think a repeat exercise will be held sooner or later," Mr. Ivanov said.

"And secondly, I do not rule out that the armed forces not only of China and Russia but of other members of the SCO will take part, including perhaps the countries which are observers with SCO."

SCO members are China, Russia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan.

India, Pakistan, Mongolia and Iran were given observer status just this year in the grouping, which has become a prime vehicle for Russia and China to challenge U.S. influence in the region.

The eight-day Russian-Chinese exercises, dubbed "Peace Mission 2005," involved about 10,000 troops on Russia's Pacific coast and China's Shandong peninsula.

They were the first joint exercises of their kind for the one-time Cold War rivals, and many saw them as a challenge to U.S. military dominance in Asia.

The United States was not among the countries invited to observe the exercises, but U.S. intelligence agencies closely monitored the proceedings, The Washington Times reported last month.

Mr. Ivanov said in the interview that China was Moscow's "major strategic partner" and denied the exercises were aimed at either the United States or Taiwan.