The military yesterday denied media reports that China and Russia are to launch a joint military exercise in Central Asia in August, saying the two countries are just going to hold talks on enhancing anti-terror cooperation in the region.
An high-level defense official said that in addition to China and Russia, three Central Asian countries -- Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan -- will also join in the talks.
"The five countries are expected to sign an agreement on anti-terror cooperation. There is no joint exercise to be held by China and Russia," the official said.
"It's incredible that the local press believe the Chinese reports of a so-called `joint exercise' to be held by China and Russia," he said.
"We've come out to deny reports about the exercise mainly to stop the local press from being misled by the Chinese media."
"The military leadership is quite surprised by a local newspaper's extensive coverage and analysis of the reported joint exercise between China and Russia.
"We do not want to say it's making something out of nothing. But it is surely a case of misguided reporting."
The so-called joint exercise to be held by China and Russia was reported on Sunday by China's mouthpiece in Hong Kong, the Wenweipo. The report was soon taken as real by the local press because of the quasi-official status of Wenweipo.
The reported exercise, if true, would be the first of its kind between China and Russia in three decades.
The exercise is to be aimed at promoting anti-terror cooperation between the two countries, without taking any foreign country as the imaginary target, the Wenweipo said.
There has been speculation that the US might be the target country of the exercise, since both China and Russia seem to be wary of the US' expansion of its influence in Central Asia following the anti-terror campaign in Afghanistan.
Intelligence information shows China greatly strengthened its military deployments in Xinjiang Province following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the US.
The arms build-up in Xinjiang includes deploying on a regular basis advanced Su-27 fighters.
Independence activists in Xinjiang have been accused in recent years of using violent means to make their appeal.
In related news, the intelligence branches of the US military have been sending personnel, including high-ranking officials, to Taiwan over the past few months to exchange information that the two sides have collected respectively on China, defense sources said.
The US military intelligence officials are interested in information about the upcoming 16th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, where the current Chinese leadership is expected to transfer power to appointed successors.
These officials are said to be high-ranking. Such high-level intelligence exchanges between Taiwan and the US are the first of its kind since the breakup of diplomatic relations between the two countries in 1979.
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