The eight-day Chinese-Russian military exercise that opened yesterday has been dubbed "Peace Mission 2005."
The joint military exercise focuses mainly on an amphibious landing in the Bohai Gulf along the coast of northeastern China.
Both sides will be using elite assault troops in the exercise, and also their most advanced fighter-bombers.
The People's Liberation Army's (PLA) overall strategic concept in this exercise is to achieve air superiority prior to launching an amphibious attack. It is not difficult to see what the real target of such an exercise is.
Since 2002, China has held eight joint military exercises with foreign troops, but the current exercise with Russia is the first high-level joint exercise of such complexity that is using equipment of such sophistication.
Although Russia's overall military power still lags behind that of the US, it is still more powerful than that of China.
This is a valuable opportunity for the PLA to improve the efficiency of combined operations with Russia, and also to consolidate relations between the two nations.
This is an indirect indication of an improvement in Chinese-Russian relations, as both nations share the aim of increasing their influence in the Asia-Pacific region.
The Russian government has attached considerable importance to these exercises.
To ensure that the exercises are carried out to the highest standards, the Russian Army has carried out preparatory exercises in their far eastern territories.
The PLA, of course, can use this opportunity to achieve closer ties with senior Russian military figures and verify the effectiveness of the assault craft it is considering purchasing from Russia.
These assault craft include anti-submarine vessels, amphibious landing craft, guided-missile destroyers, nuclear submarines, Bear strategic bombers with guided missile capability, backfire bombers and long-range bombers.
All of these are expected to participate in the exercise.
The US has shown interest in both the scope and format of the drills, as well as the effectiveness of the weapons that are employed.
Washington is even more interested to learn about their methods of communication, the command and control mechanism, the application of electronic parameters and the exchange of intelligence between the two nations.
The exercises are expected to have a significant impact on the balance of power in Asia and are also an opportunity for China and Russia to make the US take note of their growing military strength.
Although China and Russia do not yet stand as equals, their influence in the region is likely to increase.
In the face of closer Chinese-Russian military cooperation, the US must strengthen its ties with Japan, South Korea and other key nations around Asia if it is to consolidate regional security.
As for Taiwan, if the arms-procurement bill can be passed, it will serve as a further safeguarding of the security of the Taiwan Strait.
It will also indirectly strengthen US-Taiwan relations through military cooperation -- and counter the disruption in regional power that has been created by the Chinese-Russian exercise.
Chang Yan-ting is a colonel in the ROC air force, an associate professor at the Air Force Institute of Technology and a strategy instructor at the Military College of the National Defense University.
TRANSLATED BY LIN YA-TI
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