Chinese, Russian, Central Asian leaders show off military might

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CHEBARKUL, Russia, Aug 17 (AFP): The presidents of Russia, China and four other Central Asian states attended unprecedented joint military exercises Friday, intended as a display of strength before the Western world.
The vast show of firepower at a training ground in the Russian province of Chelyabinsk near the Kazakh border was the culmination of a nine-day exercise dubbed "Peace Mission 2007" that began in north-west China.
It involved some 6,000 personnel from the six countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO): China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
A lone bugle player formally opened the exercises and helicopters, fighter jets and ground forces began using mock munitions to pound some 1,000 "terrorists" who had taken over a village fabricated for the exercises.
While Russia footed most of the bill for its phase of the exercises, spending some 80 million dollars (60 million euros), they marked a new level of military cooperation with China after the two countries held their first-ever joint manoeuvres two years ago.
Beijing contributed 1,700 personnel and has sent war planes and helicopters to the Chebarkul training ground in the rolling Urals countryside.
The SCO grew out of a regional effort in the mid-1990s to reduce military forces along common borders and has evolved into military and economic cooperation, with the focus on Central Asia.