Chinese and Russian troops in unprecedented war games

Nearly 9,000 Russian and Chinese troops began a mock assault on the beaches of northern China today for the final stage of unprecedented joint war games between the two former Cold War rivals.

Russia’s Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov was heading to the Chinese city of Qingdao, where he planned to watch soldiers stage an amphibious landing and simulate a battle to capture a coastal area, tomorrow and Thursday, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported from Moscow.