Sept. 29 - China and Russia will hold joint war games next year, one of eight planned cooperative military exercises, the Chinese government said Thursday.

 

The announcement by the official Xinhua News Agency underscores deepening military cooperation between the countries.

 

Xinhua quoted the assistant to the Chief of the General Staff of the People's Liberation Army as saying the two countries would hold joint war games in Russia under the auspices of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a Chinese-dominated grouping that also includes Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

 

It said that Zhang Qinsheng confirmed there would be a total of eight cooperative events between the Chinese and Russian militaries in 2007, including a visit by Chinese Defense Minister Cao Gangchuan to Russia, and a Chinese navy call at an unspecified Russian port led by Commander Zhang Dingfa.

 

The announcement of the cooperation program came as a senior Russian military delegation met in Beijing with Chinese president Hu Jintao.