Chinese military in Belarus on borders with NATO should ring alarm

The joint military exercises of China and Belarus should alarm NATO partners, because the Chinese military appeared literally on the borders of the Alliance practically for the first time.

This opinion was expressed by Oleksandr Musienko, head of the Center for Military and Legal Research, who spoke in a comment to Ukrinform.

"These are anti-terrorist exercises, so they should alert NATO partners. There is no threat of terrorism from within Belarus, so where is it coming from? They believe it’s coming directly from NATO Allies. That is why it is a threat," the expert said.

He added that during these joint exercises, the Chinese military appeared literally on the borders with NATO for almost the first time.

"I think that the Alliance should think about it," Musienko noted.

In response to the question of what NATO's response should be, the head of the Center for Military Legal Studies noted that the Allies could also run military exercises, strengthen NATO's eastern flank, and pursue a policy of containing China.

"But this is a rather large-scale element that still needs to be implemented," the expert stated.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, on July 9, joint 11-day anti-terrorist exercises by Belarus and China military began at the Belarusian Brest training ground, 2.8 km from the border with Poland and 28 km from Ukraine.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said that the exercises between China and Belarus are a normal element of cooperation between the two countries in the defense area and are not directed against any states.