Russian Air Force soldiers pass the grandstand at the opening ceremony of a China-Russia large-scale strategic military exercise on Monday in Northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. Photo: Xinhua

CNN published an article on Monday entitled "Chinese and Russian militaries link up, but analysts say both sides have differing objectives," questioning the "real military value" of China-Russia joint military drill, "the Zapad/Interaction-2021." The article quoted analysts to suggest that Beijing and Moscow may have "differing objectives, from propaganda to economic."

CNN's view is very short-sighted and biased. The theme of this drill is jointly safeguarding regional security and stability. During the drill, the Chinese and Russian troops used a specially designed joint command system for the first time, demonstrating their powerful capabilities of joint anti-terrorism operations. In the condition of US hegemony and the current chaos in Afghanistan, the world needs China and Russia as an important backbone force that can maintain peace and stability.

In fact, the more CNN tries to belittle the meaning of China-Russia military cooperation, the more it reflects that some American elites - whose position is represented by CNN - currently have growing anxiety over China-Russia cooperation. As China and Russia are facing increasing hostility from the US, the two countries have coordinated their position to oppose hegemony and manipulation of the international order and to support each other in maintaining stability in the surrounding areas.

"By enhancing strategic cooperation, China and Russia can be the terminator of the US hegemony. China and Russia have continuously strengthened their military drills to deal with the US' creation of chaos worldwide," Chinese military expert and TV commentator Song Zhongping told the Global Times on Tuesday.

CNN's badmouthing of China-Russia military strategic cooperation will be of no use, nor will it succeed in trying to drive a wedge between the two countries. This was the first time that China hosted a strategic drill that saw a foreign military invited, and the first time Russian forces entered China's Qingtongxia military base, which demonstrates that the mutual trust between the two country's armed forces is increasing.

It can be very difficult to organize highly integrated joint exercises during the COVID-19 pandemic. The successful drill shows that the two militaries have a high degree of coordination. It can also improve China and Russia's ability to cooperate in response to regional and international challenges, which is of great significance to jointly safeguarding regional security.

The hasty withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan has had a serious negative impact on the country, and analysts are worrying that there will be a breeding ground for terrorism in the country. In this context, China and Russia aimed at cracking down on the "three forces" during their drill, namely the forces of terrorism, extremism and separatism.

"The main purpose of the China-Russia military drill is to deter these terrorist forces, including asking the Taliban to eliminate forces of terrorism and not to let them pose a threat to neighboring countries. If these forces take advantage of Afghanistan to carry out terrorist acts against China, Russia and Central Asian countries, then Beijing and Moscow may implement joint cross-border strikes against terrorism under the mechanism of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization," Song said.

While the US continues to create chaos in various parts of the world and trigger turmoil, China and Russia have demonstrated their strength to deal with regional problems. The two countries will not allow those so-called extraterritorial major powers to mess around. CNN and some other US elites will never succeed in instigating disputes between Beijing and Moscow.