• China’s participation in the exercises is “unrelated to the current international and regional situation,” ministry says.
• Moscow announced plans to hold “Vostok” (East) exercises from Aug. 30 to Sept. 5.
• China and Russia have an ongoing bilateral annual cooperation agreement.

Chinese military personnel will deploy to Russia to participate in joint military drills with Russia, Belarus, Mongolia, Tajikistan, and other nations, the Chinese defence ministry announced on Wednesday. The ministry stated in a statement that China’s participation in the joint exercises was “unrelated to the current international and regional situation.”

Moscow revealed intentions to perform “Vostok” (East) exercises from August 30 to September 5 last month, all the while waging an expensive war in Ukraine. Without naming them, it was stated at the time that some foreign forces would take part.

The most recent of these exercises occurred in 2018, when China participated for the first time.

According to the military ministry of China, Russia and China have a continuous bilateral annual cooperation agreement that includes participation in the exercises.

According to the statement, “the goal is to develop friendly and practical cooperation with the militaries of participating nations, increase the level of strategic cooperation among the participating parties, and strengthen the capacity to respond to diverse security threats.”

Beijing and Moscow have gotten closer under Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

Beijing and Moscow made a “no limits” alliance announcement prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24; however, according to U.S. officials, China has neither provided Russia with military hardware or helped it avoid sanctions led by the United States.

Part of Siberia is included in the eastern military district of Russia, which is headquartered in Khabarovsk, not far from the Chinese border.

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