Russia, China pledge further joint military exercises

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that his country would hold more joint military exercises with China, following Sino-Russian naval exercises in the Yellow Sea in April, Reuters reported. “We will continue cooperation also between our military,” said Putin after a state visit with China’s Vice President Xi Jinping and other officials in Beijing this week. “Recently joint navy exercises were held in the Yellow Sea, and they were the first of such exercises. We have agreed with Chairman Hu that we will continue such cooperation.” The pledges of further military-to-military cooperation come after Leon Panetta, the US Secretary of Defense, said on Saturday that the US would move 60% of its naval fleet to the Pacific by the end of the decade, up from 50% today.