There are growing fears of a world war erupting between the West and a military alliance led by China and Russia.
This comes as Chinese and Belarusian troops carried out a series of drills this week simulating ground war zone combat just miles from Ukraine and Poland. The military drills, which took under the nose of NATO allies, saw troops from the Chinese People’s Liberation Army practice seizing a civilian airport from enemy forces.
The joint ‘anti-terrorist training’ exercise known as Eagle Assault was held near the city of Brest, which lies just across the border with Poland and is just 28km (17 miles) from Ukraine. It is the first time Chinese troops have trained on Belarusian soil.
Belarus has been a key supporter of Russia‘s war in Ukraine and has agreed to store Russia‘s tactical nuclear warheads on its territory. On Thursday, the Chinese defence ministry said the troops had demonstrated “good technical and tactical skills, solid training levels, and a strong fighting spirit” during the exercises.
Chinese commander, Wang Bo, said the two sides had practised “encircling, controlling and pursuing” their targets and refined their reconnaissance and blockade tactics.
He said a joint air-ground combat exercise simulating an operation to seize control of an airport from terrorists using drones, paratroopers, and ground forces was held on Wednesday.
The training exercises developed out of China’s Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which features a strong military alliance involving Russia, several Central Asian nations, India and, most recently, Belarus.
The timing of the drills did not appear coincidental. The training took place days after NATO denounced Beijing as a “decisive enabler” of Russia’s war effort in Ukraine.
The Washington Summit Declaration issued by NATO leaders said China’s deepening partnership with Russia was a matter of “profound concern” to the alliance.
The Western security alliance criticised Beijing for its “large-scale support for Russia’s defence industrial base”.
The NATO statement was its most serious rebuke against Beijing so far
In response, China’s foreign ministry blasted NATO’s growing presence in Asia and demanded the alliance stay out of the Asia-Pacific region and not incite confrontation. Officials in Beijing said: “The China-related paragraphs are provocative with obvious lies and smears.”
Spokesperson Lin Jian said: “NATO hyping up China’s responsibility on the Ukraine issue is unreasonable and has sinister motives.”