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China, Russia starts phase two drills in Shandong
About 7,000 Chinese troops and 1,800 Russians with ships, fighter planes and amphibious vehicles are taking part in "Peace Mission 2005," China��s Central Television Station (CCTV) said in its nightly news program. China and Russia settled the last of their decades-old border disputes last year and are cooperating in a regional security group, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, meant to combat Islamic extremism and separatism in Central Asia. The exercises this week are meant to improve cooperation in "dealing with crises and organizing coordinated actions in the backdrop of the fight against terrorism, separatism and extremism," China's Xinhua News Agency said. Chinese state television's evening news showed Chinese and Russian officers gathered in a command center in Shangdong before computer screens with maps of the exercise. The report showed Chinese soldiers driving tanks and troop carriers and preparing for parachute jumps, though it did not say whether those activities occurred Saturday. It showed Russian fighters and cargo planes landing at a Chinese base, and a Chinese schoolgirl giving a bouquet of flowers to a Russian naval officer. Saturday's exercise was to include 14 ships and about 50 Russian and Chinese warplanes and the mid-air refueling of Russian-made Chinese Sukhoi-30 interceptors by a Russian tanker, according to ITAR-Tass. The exercises this week is expected to give Russia a chance to showcase its advanced long-range strategic bombers, the Associated Press reported.
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