China-Russia military drill sends out five signals

Terrorism is still a worldwide threat. The 20-day Peace Mission-2013 China-Russia joint military drill, starting from July 27, has been attracting widespread interest from international strategic institutions and the media. Undoubtedly, international terrorist forces are also keeping a watchful eye on the exercise.

The China-Russia joint military drill conveys the following important messages to the world:

First, China and Russia will work together to firmly crack down on terrorism, which causes significant harm to a world that is trying to achieve peace and development. The resurgence of terrorist forces in China and Russia in recent years demonstrates the need for cooperation between the two countries.

Second, China and Russia will use counter-terrorism as a starting point to promote strategic trust and cooperation in their border area in response to non-traditional security threats. The two countries are neighbors and partners. They have substantial scope for cooperation and win-win partnership; they also share much common ground on security issues. In addition to the fight against terrorism, they will work together in other areas including combating transnational drug trafficking, smuggling, the prevention of disease transmission, and safeguarding strategic channels. Therefore both sides should have a proactive plan, involving sincere cooperation, which strives to eliminate security threats at their source. This will be conductive to removing the obstacles hindering a wide range of economic, technological and cultural cooperation.

Third, China and Russia are willing to work together on a broader agenda to promote world peace and stability. Through mutual exchanges, Chinese and Russian leaders have reached a broad consensus on issues such as opposition to power politics. The two countries are among the world's most important, which means that they shoulder heavier responsibilities and obligations in promoting regional and world peace and stability.

Fourth, both China and Russia think the world should abandon confrontation and the mentality of power politics, and aim for a win-win situation through mutual trust and cooperation. After thousands of years of confrontation and conflict, and two world wars followed by the U.S.-Russia Cold War in the last 100 years, there has been a developing trend of opening, reconciliation and cooperation.

China and Russia are supporting this trend by building mutual trust and military cooperation. They also hope that more and more countries will work to ease tensions, aspire to tolerance and mutual understanding, and give peaceful development a chance.

Fifth, China is willing to carry out friendly exchanges and cooperation with any country that is prepared to work towards safeguarding world peace and stability, and to make a positive effort to address security threats. In his book "The Art of War", the ancient Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu describes the various hazards of war and promotes strategic thinking - that victory is achieved by making both sides abandon war and aim for the higher goal of peace.

The foreign media tend to focus on military cooperation between China and Russia in the context of geopolitical strategy, while ignoring the fact that the two countries face a common threat from terrorism. They also ignore any potential benefits, and the positive significance to regional and world peace and stability.

The author is Wang Xinjun, a researcher with the Academy of Military Sciences of the Chinese People's Liberation Army.