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| Europe |
| Chinese military deploys armored vehicles to Europe for the first time as Chinese medics train in Germany |
| 2019-07-11 |
| [MilitaryTimes] The Chinese military has deployed military personnel and armored medical vehicles to Germany for joint drills, a first for the Chinese People's Liberation Army as it attempts to forge closer ties with Europe. The joint exercise; Combined Aid 2019; is focused on preparing troops with the medical service units of the Chinese and German armed forces to respond to humanitarian crises, such as mass casualty incidents and serious disease outbreaks, China's Xinhua News Agency reported. The exercise follows a cooperative military medical training exercise in 2016 in Chongqing, where the PLA and the German Bundeswehr practiced responding to an imaginary earthquake scenario. "We've seen China increasing its participation in these kinds of activities. It provides a low risk means to demonstrate its commitment to global governance, which may help reduce anxiety about its growing military capabilities," China watcher Matthew Funaiole, an expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told INSIDER. "The PLA in the future will need to go abroad to protect China's overseas interests in countries along the Belt and Road Initiative," he explained. "If there could be some basic mutual trust and understanding with NATO forces, the risk of potential conflict could be greatly mitigated." Jorge Benitez, a NATO expert with the Atlantic Council, told Stars and Stripes that "the presence of the Chinese military in Germany for this exercise creates very bad optics for Germany, NATO and the US and is a cheap propaganda victory for China." Last year, the Chinese People's Liberation Army-Navy (PLAN) conducted its first combined exercise with the European Union Naval Force (EU NAVFOR) in waters near China's new military base in Djibouti. It marked an unprecedented level of cooperation at that time. |
| Posted by:Woodrow |
| #7 Salmon usually are - before they expire, and they smell like dead fish |
| Posted by: Frank G 2019-07-11 19:08 |
| #6 Seems Erb is tired of the uphill swim. |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2019-07-11 18:10 |
| #5 Not just monitoring logistics and repair times but also MTTF and MTTR and emission signatures. Kool stuff. |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2019-07-11 18:09 |
| #4 While the Chinese get to check out Europe, doesn’t this kind of thing mean the Europeans (and us quietly in the background) also get to check out their capabilities and equipment? I seem to recall that the US loves training with the kind of armies who strongly need to understand how very far they have to improve in order to be a threat. Could this be something like that? |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2019-07-11 15:57 |
| #3 Something to connect their new Tran-Russian highway with. I remember an old saying about the Autobahn. Don't worry about the guy trying to pass you. Worry about the guy trying to pass the guy trying to pass you. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2019-07-11 08:26 |
| #2 Eurotrash trying to give themselves away... Tried to commit suicide by Muzzie. That didn't work so they called in the varsity to invade. At least the Chinese will take care of their current colonist problem. |
| Posted by: Thease Snusoque8218 2019-07-11 08:14 |
| #1 Thanks, "allies". With friends like these, why do we subsidize their defense? Why are we even still in NATO? They're building a pipeline to make them dependent on the Russians we're sworn to defend them from. Some gratitude. |
| Posted by: Herb McCoy 2019-07-11 03:20 |