Washington, which has indicated unease over the pace of China's military build-up, is not attending as an observer but said it is closely monitoring the drills, warning they should not undermine regional stability.

The week-long exercises involving 10,000 troops, naval ships, bombers and fighter planes began in the Russian city of Vladivostok and will later move to the Yellow Sea and the area off the Jiaodong peninsula in eastern China.

Chinese defence officials said they would focus on the ability of Russian and Chinese forces to fight separatism and terrorism, while strengthening mutual trust between two of the world's major powers.

"The exercise will be carried out in the framework of the fight against international terrorism and extremism, to respond to new threats and challenges," said Liang Guanglie, chief-of-staff of China's armed forces.

China faces challenges from separatists in its Muslim-populated Xinjiang region in the northwest, and Russia from Muslim separatists in Chechnya.

"This first joint military exercise in (our) history ... does not threaten the interests of other countries," Russian chief-of-staff Yury Baluyevsky said.

Under the scenario of the exercises, a fictive state torn by massive ethnic unrest has asked the United Nations and neighbouring countries to assist in restoring order, Russian officials said.

Chinese and Russian troops under UN mandate are sent to separate the combatants and quell the unrest.

Defence ministers from countries in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which groups several Central Asian countries besides China and Russia, have been invited to watch, China's Xinhua news agency said.

Leading military officials from Iran, India and Pakistan are also on hand, the state-run agency quoted Russian diplomats as saying.

The thrust of the drills, known as "Peace Mission 2005," would be battle planning, transportation and deployment of troops and combat practice, it added.

Earlier Chinese reports said they will involve Russian paratroopers jumping onto the Chinese peninsula, while Russian ships will engage in amphibious landing exercises.

Air force exercises involving Sukhoi Su-27 fighter planes and Tupolev TU 95MSs and TU 22M-3s will round out the drills, with long-distance bombing runs and cruise missile attacks, reports said.

The exercises could also involve China's nuclear submarine fleet and anti-submarine warfare capability.

As the drills got under way, a group of Russian journalists were allowed for the first time aboard a Chinese warship, Russia's ITAR-TASS news agency reported.

The United States is closely watching what goes on.

"We are following the exercises," US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said this week. "We expect that they will be conducted in a manner that supports some mutual goal of regional stability shared by the United States, China and Russia."

He said both Beijing and Moscow had advised Washington about the manoeuvres and added that the United States would not have any observers on hand.

"But we would hope that anything that they do is not something that would be disruptive to the current atmosphere in the region," said McCormack.

In Vladivostok, military officials from both sides said the show of force should not be seen as a threat.

"The first China-Russia joint military exercises are neither aimed at any third country nor concern the interests of any third country, and will pose no threat to any country," said China's chief-of-staff Liang.

Russia and China have had tense relations, fighting two brief border wars in the 1950s. But the border dispute was resolved last year when Moscow gave up rights to a few small disputed islands.

Russia remains one of China's top arms suppliers.

All rights reserved. � 2005 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.

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