Russia and China’s Growing Military Interaction; Surprised?

October 2018 No Comments

“Russia and China’s Growing Military Interaction; Surprised?”

Speaker: Zwack, P. (Retired)

Date: 4 October 2018

Speaker Session Preview

SMA hosted a speaker session presented by BG (Ret.) Peter Zwack as a part of its SMA EUCOM Speaker Series. BG (Ret.) Zwack began his presentation by discussing Russia’s annual large-scale, highly-publicized military exercises and identifying the four focuses of these exercises: logistics, mobilization, command and control, and tactical innovation. He then explained that this military-focused effort is actually a whole of society effort because through these exercises, Russia is preparing its citizens for the possibility of war. He clarified that Russia does not want to go to war, nor is it in the position to go to war, but feels like in the event that it does need to go to war, its population should not be blindsided. Next, BG (Ret.) Zwack stated that the significance of China’s involvement in these military exercises has yet to be determined. He briefly discussed the history of Russian-Chinese relations and joint naval exercises (all small scale prior to now). BG (Ret.) Zwack concluded his presentation by stating that the US needs to be sure that its plans, strategies, and narratives do not push an “anxious, reactive, preemptive” Russia and an increasingly influential China together inadvertently. Moreover, he advised that the US needs to avoid engaging in any ambiguous actions with its allies so that the risk of Russia or China misinterpreting these actions is eliminated.

Speaker Session Audio File

BG Zwack’s relevant article also entitled “Russia and China’s Growing Military Interaction; Surprised?” can be found at: https://nationalinterest.org/feature/russia-and-china%E2%80%99s-growing-military-interaction-surprised-3082