Chinese Troops Kick Off Joint ‘Anti-Terrorism’ Exercise in Belarus, Opposite NATO’s Eastern Border

Soldiers and aircraft from China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) kicked off an “anti-terrorism” exercise in Belarus on Monday, in drills officials in both countries said were aimed to help promote regional peace and stability.

State-controlled media in both China and Belarus on Sunday showed images of single PLA Xian Y-20 air transports landing at Belarus’ biggest military airport Baranovichi, and a Belarusian delegation meeting and greeting about dozens of Chinese soldiers and officers exiting the aircraft.

A Belarusian band tootled patriotic music in the background and a company-sized formation of People’s Republic soldiers stood at attention, as the Chinese commander received a gift loaf of bread.

The Belarusian Defense Ministry on Saturday said the Chinese contingent would participate in an 11-day exercise to train response to insurgents and terrorists, and to improve joint operations between the two countries’ armies.

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The exercises would be held in Brest, on the Polish border, the Chinese state-run newspaper Global Times reported.

A Chinese Defense Ministry press release published on July 7 said troops participating in the exercises, called “Eagle Assault-2024”, will train hostage rescue tactics, “individual skills of officers and soldiers, tactical coordination of squads, etc., laying a solid foundation for the successful completion of the mission,” a PLA statement said.

The Jianxi-based milblogger Military House (军屋库) said: “As China and Belarus have always emphasized, their military cooperation is not aimed at any third country… there is no need for us to follow the Western way of thinking and view the China-Belarus joint training from the perspective of camp confrontation.”

China’s military with its dispatch of troops to Belarus has demonstrated Beijing’s capacity to project force to “the front line of Russia and Belarus against NATO. It is only about 50 kilometers from Brest to the Ukrainian border and only a few hundred kilometers to the Russian-Ukrainian front line,” Military House said in a July 7 post.

Chinese milbloggers confirmed soldiers sent to Belarus were drawn from the 80th Medium Combined Arms Brigade (中型合成第80旅). That unit is a longstanding PLA formation tracing its fighting lineage back to combat against US and British forces in Korea in 1950-53.

In the 2020s the 80th has been promoted in Chinese state media as an exemplary outfit with modern equipment, excellent morale and happy soldiers.

Belarus joined the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a Chinese- and Russian-led group of nations wanting to counter Western influence over world economies and security, on July 4. Other full members of the group include China, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

The SCO’s official languages are Russian and Chinese. Per the organization’s charter, SCO nations coordinate state policies to improve collective security and economic welfare.

Beijing and Minsk in August 2023 signed an agreement to start joint military training on Aug 17, 2023.

Belarus’ authoritarian leader President Aleksandr Lukashenko is closely allied with Russia, but, he has repeatedly claimed his country is non-aligned. Minsk doesn’t want to get involved in the Kremlin’s two-year-old war in Ukraine, but also, Belarus doesn’t want to get involved in a confrontation with NATO, he has said.

Currently, Belarusian instructors train Russian troops at Belarusian training bases, Russian combat aircraft fly regularly from Belarusian air bases, and Belarusian missile units are training to store and, if deemed needed, launch Russian nuclear warheads. In February and March 2022, Lukashenko green-lighted the Russian invasion of Ukraine from the north, using Belarusian territory.

Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Lukashenko in Minsk on July 4th. Belarusian state-controlled media reported the two Presidents discussed cooperation and promoting regional security and economic development.