via Zerohedge:
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is preparing for a massive war exercise, called International Army Games (IAG), expected to kick-off next week, reported China Military.
The military exercise will be held in ten countries: Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia, and Uzbekistan. More than 6,000 troops are expected to participate from August 3 to 17.
In total, there will be 31 exercises spread across ten countries.
A PLA Naval Aviation brigade will be participating in the Aviadarts drill, which involves 11 aircraft performing en-route flight aerial surveillance and aerial attacks of ground-based targets.
China Central Television (CCTV) reported Sunday that a recent war exercise involved Xi’an JH-7 fighter bombers flew 62 miles and launched an attack on a target zone.
“This will be the first time the Naval Aviation troops step out of the country’s border for the IAG, and we value this opportunity,” naval officer Feng Xianzheng told CCTV.
Overnight, we reported that three Russian military planes (two Tu-95 bombers and one A-50 airborne early warning and control aircraft) entered South Korea’s air defense identification zone off the country’s east coast. South Korean fighter jets scrambled in response, and fired 80 rounds of machine-gun fire and 10 flares – what they described as “warning shots.” Two Chinese bombers joined with the Russian planes on Tuesday and even violated South Korea’s airspace from the Southwest. It’s not uncommon for Chinese jets to wander into South Korean airspace, and there’s no indication so far that connects the incident to IAG.
Wei Dongxu, a Beijing-based military analyst, told the Global Times on Monday that the increased number of PLA units participating in IAG is more evidence that the Navy is becoming increasingly confident that it can conduct exercises with other countries.
Chinese and Russian fighter bombers will conduct bombing raids during IAG, will allow Chinese Navy pilots to gain more experience since Russian pilots have already been combat tested, Wei said.
The Xinhua News Agency said the PLA would send marines to the Seaborne Assault drill in Russia and, for the first time, divers to the Deep Sea exercise in Iran.
The PLA Daily said the Chinese military has participated in IAG for six years and hosted exercises in China for three consecutive years.
The risk of armed conflict has never been higher, as Washington wages economic wars on allies and foes. The first shots of the current war have already been fired, that is the US and China trade war, these tit-for-tat economic sanctions could eventually spill over into a shooting war. The upcoming IAG exercise gives excellent insight into who Washington could be fighting in World War III.