Posted on 01/13/2006 5:40:47 PM PST by Tailgunner Joe
Moscow, Jan. 14 (AP): Russia's Defence Minister on Friday defended his country's military contacts with China, insisting that the cooperation would not upset the security balance in the Far East despite Japanese concerns about Beijing's moves to boost its defence capability.
Defence contacts between China and Russia "have developed, are developing and will develop, I can assure you of that," Defence Minister, Sergei Ivanov, said after a meeting with his Japanese counterpart.
Since the 1991 Soviet collapse, Moscow and Beijing have developed what they call a strategic partnership, pledging commitment to a "multipolar world" - a term that highlights their opposition to US domination in global affairs.
Moscow has sold China billions of dollars worth of defence equipment, and the two countries participated in an unprecedented joint military exercise in August, using long-range bombers and submarines to settle an imaginary conflict in a foreign land.
Japanese Defence Agency chief, Fukushiro Nukaga, expressed concern that China is not being fully transparent as it moves to increase its defence capabilities and modernise its military on the back of skyrocketing economic growth.
"That is why it calls forth some suspicion," Nukaga said.
He expressed hope that Russian defence contracts with China would take into account the delicate security balance in the East.
The Pro-Russia people say that this is impossible. Their wrong. Commies are commies, and they never change their stripes.
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