By Shannon Tiezzi
The anti-terrorism drills involved troops from China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
7,000 troops from five countries are in China this week as part of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s (SCO) “Peace Mission 2014” military drills. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization is a regional multilateral body consisting of China, Russia, and the Central Asian states of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. This year’s military drill included troops from China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan in what Chinese media called the largest SCO drill yet.
China is hosting Peace Mission 2014, which opened August 24 and will conclude on the 29, in Inner Mongolia.Xinhua underscored that the drill was unprecedented, both in terms of scale and in terms of the weaponry being used. The drill involved multiple branches of the various militaries, including ground and air forces as well as units devoted to special ops, electronic countermeasures, and reconnaissance. The list of hardware was even more extensive: drones, early-warning aircraft, air-defense missiles, tanks, and armored vehicles. There were Su-25 jets and MI-8AMTSh armed assault helicopters from Russia, and China sent some of its “most advanced military hardware” as well, including the armed WZ-10 and WZ-19 helicopters. With the extensive array of technology and troops, Xinhua described the drills as “close to real combat.”
The drill was designed to counter what China calls the “three evil forces”: terrorism, separatism, and extremism. As China has grown increasingly concerned about these “evil forces,” particularly in Xinjiang, it has highlighted these issues in multilateral forums as well as in its own domestic policies. The SCO, as its name implies, is China’s pet project, and thus a perfect place for Beijing to shift the agenda to emphasize its core concerns.
Read the full story at The Diplomat