The PLA at Home and Abroad - Strategic Studies Institute - U.S. Army

tion.” According to the Council on Foreign Relations
(CFR), the SCO created itself as a confidence-building
mechanism to resolve border disputes among the six
participating countries—China, Russia, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan—but it is not
yet a strong organization because of internal divisions.
65
China and Russia conducted the “Peace Mission
2005” joint exercise in August 2005, which involved
10,000 army, navy, and air force personnel. Even
though only China and Russia participated, they conducted
the exercise under the SCO umbrella. 66 Following
the exercise, the SCO member states signed
the “Agreement on Conducting Joint Military Exercises”
and the “Agreement on Cooperation of Defense
Ministries.” 67 The agreements paved the way for the
“Peace Mission” 2007 and 2009 joint counterterrorism
exercises that have continued to increase in complexity.
68
Although the “Peace Mission” exercises are under
the SCO umbrella, they have not occurred without
problems. For example, during the 2007 exercise,
Kazakhstan troops participated but failed—either
because of a reluctance or lack of time—to pass legislation
allowing foreign troops to cross its territory.
As a result, PLA troops had to make 10,000 kilometers
detour through Mongolia to get to the exercise area. 69
PLA Navy Participation in Combined Exercises. The
PLAN is expanding the scope of its participation in
SAREXs, but not combat exercises. Participation in
these SAREXs is part of the PLAN’s transformation
into an “open ocean navy” (yuanhai or yuanyang
haijun). Surprisingly, it appears that the PLAN currently
sees a practical use for improving its ability to
participate in SAR operations, but not for learning to
conduct combat operations with other navies.
449