Biden State Department Shrugs Off China-Russia Military Exercises; 'Appeasement,' Says Sen. Cotton For the first time in four years, Chinese troops will go to Russia to take part in joint military exercises beginning Aug. 30 and running through Sept. 5. The exercises also include India, Belarus, Mongolia, Tajikistan and other countries, China’s defense ministry said Wednesday.
And on Wednesday, a State Department spokesman shrugged off the China-Russia military cooperation:
"My understanding is that these are joint exercises that involve a number of countries well beyond Russia and China," Ned Price told reporters:
"Countries routinely make their own sovereign decisions. It is absolutely their right to do so regarding what, if any, military exercises to take part in. I’ll also note that most of the participating countries also routinely participate in a wide array of military exercises and exchanges with the United States as well. So we don’t read anything into their engagement in this activity.
"Now, the broader point is that we have seen a burgeoning relationship, including in the security realm, between the PRC (People's Republic of China) and Russia. We’ve seen a burgeoning relationship between Russia and Iran, for example, and we have made public elements of that. That is of concern because of the vision that the PRC, countries like the PRC, countries like Russia, have for the international order.
"It is a vision that is starkly at odds to the liberal vision that we and our allies and partners have for the international system. It is starkly at odds with the underpinnings of the international system that have been in place for some eight decades following the end of the Second World War, a system that has undergirded unprecedented levels of stability, of security, of prosperity across the world..."
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas), a member of the Armed Services Committee, said the State Department's response to China-Russia military cooperation is vintage Joe Biden:
"Again, this is Joe Biden's long-standing record of weakness and appeasement going back not just the last 18 months, but the last 50 years of public life," Cotton told Fox News's Laura Ingraham Wednesday night..................
https://www.cnsnews.com/article/washington/susan-jones/biden-state-department-shrugs-china-russia-military-exercises
