Russia and China are planning “enormous” and “important” joint military events in their future, after a meeting in which the countries agreed a military “roadmap” until 2020. The superpowers completed a mass naval drill in the disputed South China Sea in September.
Three years of plans? Not a decade? Not a five-year plan? Or a four-year plan? Just three? Ending in 2020?
So what happens in 2020?
Well, that's the last year of a treaty that suspends territorial claims between the two countries. In 2021 either side can end the treaty.
Russia holds a lot of Chinese territory taken in the 19th century. I wonder if China ever ponders reversing that humiliation?
So if China insisted on a three-year "road map," I think the Russians should worry. Twenty years was not enough time for Russia to rebuild their military to face China.
Although it was enough time to alienate and alarm NATO.
Something could definitely blow up after 3 years.
