China sent troops to Belarus 8 - 19 July 2024
Belarus is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe . It has NATO opponent Poland to it's West. Ally Russia to it's East, and the Ukraine conflict zone to its South.
8 July 2024. Radio Free Europe (RFE) is a US Government funded international news organisation which tends to focus on Eastern Europe & the Middle East. RFE reports that China sent troops to Brest training grounds in Belarus on 8th July 2024 for military exercise "Eagle assault" which is set to continue to 19th July 2024.
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| RFE 11 Jul 2024 - China Belarus |
It is not a coincidence that this joint China / Belarus exercise is happening at the same time as the NATO Washington meeting (see below). Whilst it is NOT a large deployment of China military in to Europe , it IS a well timed message to NATO that Belarus & Russia have a friend in China wiling to co-operate militarily.
10 July 2024: Belarus News website describes it as an anti-terror exercise called "attacking Falcon" together with China military to practice night landing and ops over populated areas. Belarus News X twitter account is blocked at the time of writing this blog.
12 July 2024 : Anadolu Ajansi (Turkish state media) . Poland is monitoring the co-operation exercises taking place a few km the other side of the border in Belarus.
10 July 2024. NATO Washington meeting.
At the same time as the Chinese Military boots were on the ground in Belarus, NATO countries were meeting in Washington to strengthen bonds, and to reaffirm and state their current position.
NATO says that it is a defensive alliance to protect each other. Welcomes new members Finland & Sweden. Says that Russia is the greatest threat among many global threats. North Korea and Iran are assisting Russia with drones and munitions. China additionally assisting Russia with cyber & disinformation attacks. Entirely blames Russia for Invasion of Ukraine and wider instability. NATO welcomes members paying min 2% GDP towards upgrading and re-enforcing it's military. Pledged long term military assistance to Ukraine.
item 16 of the Washington Summit Declaration is important. It says :
"Ukraine’s future is in NATO. Ukraine has become increasingly
interoperable and politically integrated with the Alliance. We welcome
the concrete progress Ukraine has made since the Vilnius Summit on its
required democratic, economic, and security reforms. As Ukraine
continues this vital work, we will continue to support it on its
irreversible path to full Euro-Atlantic integration, including NATO
membership."
12 July 2024: Poland Radio site says that Poland would not independently shoot down Russian missiles bound for Ukraine. Would have to be authorised by NATO command.
11 July 2024: China Military website carried a response to the NATO Washington declaration.
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| China Military 11 July 2024 |
China military website says that the NATO Washington declaration is a cold war attitude which hypes up tension. Mentions Yugoslavia, Libya, Afghanistan as places where NATO shows up and turmoil follows. NATO spreads disinformation.
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