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Enoch Wong

The People’s Liberation Army announced on Tuesday that China, Russia and Mongolia had conducted their first ever joint border defence exercise, named “Border Defence Cooperation 2025”.
The exercise, held from September 8 to 9 near Manzhouli in Inner Mongolia autonomous region along the China-Russia-Mongolia border, focused on “joint prevention and crackdown on terrorist sabotage activities in border areas”, the PLA said on social media.
It is the first time that the border defence forces of the three countries have organised such a drill together.
Footage released by the PLA across social media platforms showed battlefield reconnaissance radars, drones and robotic dogs deployed during the exercise.
Zheng Zhongwen, a border defence brigade officer of the Northern Theatre Command, said in a voice-over that the troops employed “multiple modern surveillance methods, including battlefield reconnaissance television, radar, drones and unmanned ground vehicles”.
These technologies not only strengthened the troops’ border control capabilities but also improved their ability to apply advanced tools for frontier management, Zheng added.
According to the PLA, the joint exercise aimed to improve trilateral strategic coordination, strengthen capabilities against border security threats and deepen strategic trust.

During the drills, a joint command post was established inside Chinese territory.
The training included joint planning, reconnaissance, blockade, strike and handover exercises. Following the formal drills, the three sides also exchanged views on topics related to border management.
Russian and Mongolian media described the exercise as a natural outcome of increasingly close trilateral ties. It follows close on the heels of a summit in Beijing last week, when the leaders of the three countries extended the China-Mongolia-Russia Economic Corridor programme to 2031 and confirmed their cooperation on the Power of Siberia 2 pipeline.
Russian state news agency Tass said that border cooperation reinforced the “good neighbours united by friendship” narrative promoted by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Mongolia’s state-run Montsame news agency portrayed the drill as a reflection of the country’s balanced foreign policy of engaging both powerful neighbours while supporting regional stability.
Last Tuesday, Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted Putin and Mongolian President Khurelsukh Ukhnaa at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing for the seventh China-Russia-Mongolia leaders’ meeting.
Xi called for closer cooperation within the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), describing the bloc as the main platform for safeguarding regional security and promoting development. He urged members to make full use of new centres established at last week’s SCO summit, including those for counterterrorism, drug control and information security. Both Putin and Khurelsukh attended the SCO summit hosted by Xi on Monday in northern China’s Tianjin, where Mongolia’s status was elevated from observer to a “partner” of the grouping.
China and Russia have increasingly used joint exercises to model alternatives to Western-led security frameworks. According to the US-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies, the two countries have conducted at least 110 documented joint exercises since 2003, with their frequency increasing in recent years.
In early August, the Chinese and Russian navies carried out “Joint Sea 2025”, their largest bilateral drill this year, in the waters near Vladivostok. The five-day event included Chinese Type 052D destroyers Shaoxing and Urumqi, Russia’s Admiral Tributs anti-submarine ship, drills in submarine rescue, air and missile defence, and live-fire training. Joint Pacific patrols followed the naval drills.
Between August 17 and 28, Russia and Mongolia staged “Selenga 2025”, an exercise held in eastern Siberia and involving large-scale land manoeuvres. It marked the first time Mongolian Air Force units took part in joint exercises in Russian territory.
Simulated scenarios included counterterrorism operations, with Russian forces introducing motorcycles and buggies for assault roles, while instructors with experience in the Ukraine war provided tactical training.
On August 15, Chinese defence ministry spokesman Senior Colonel Jiang Bin confirmed that China and Mongolia had held a bilateral “Border Defence Cooperation 2025” exercise in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. That drill focused on cracking down on cross-border criminal activities and improving joint border management.


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Three neighbours staged exercise aimed at cracking down on ‘terrorist sabotage activities in border areas’, PLA says


Three neighbours staged exercise aimed at cracking down on ‘terrorist sabotage activities in border areas’, PLA says.


China-Russia relations

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China, Russia and Mongolia team up for first-ever border defence drill

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Three neighbours staged exercise aimed at cracking down on ‘terrorist sabotage activities in border areas’, PLA says

Three neighbours staged exercise aimed at cracking down on ‘terrorist sabotage activities in border areas’, PLA says