Defense Minister Cao Gangchuan met his Russian counterpart Sergei Ivanov for breakfast in the east Chinese port city of Qingdao as nearly 10,000 service personnel from the two sides simulated various war scenarios.

"The maneuver is a major historical event in the history of relations between our two countries and between our two militaries," Cao said, according to Xinhua news agency.

"Through this exercise, the two militaries have improved their friendship, deepened their understanding of each other and shown a new level of strategic partnership between China and Russia."

"Peace Mission 2005" is scheduled to end Thursday in the area around east China's Shandong peninsula, eight days after it began near Russia's Pacific port city of Vladivostok.

Shortly before noon the two defense ministers observed an amphibious landing at Langyatai, an ancient harbor on the peninsula.

The simulated battle, a D-Day-style struggle to gain a foothold on the beach, ended after 62 minutes of pitched battle in pouring rain, according to Xinhua and state TV.

Gaining more experience in carrying out amphibious warfare is a key priority for the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA), which may one day be called upon to storm the flat western beaches of Taiwan.

A wide range of modern weaponry is being tested in the Sino-Russian exercises, the first major land, sea and air war games jointly carried out by the two military heavyweights and former Cold War foes.

In one of the most keenly anticipated drills the Russian destroyer Burny Tuesday fired a Moskit missile as part of a precision attack against the enemy, the China Daily newspaper reported.

Moskit is the Russian designation for the Sunburn anti-ship cruise missile, which China has reportedly bought from Moscow to form a crucial part of its strategy for the Taiwan Strait.

The missile was developed by Russia specifically to meet the need to take out American aircraft carriers. China's interest in the missile is presumably its ability to deter US intervention in any future war over Taiwan.

"China has not test-launched this missile yet," said Arthur Ding, an expert on the Chinese military as Taiwan's National Chengchi University. "So this is a good opportunity to test-fire this missile."

The Sunburn missile is part of a broader effort by China to acquire better precision strike capabilities, the Pentagon said last month in its annual report on the Chinese military.

"The pace of indigenous anti-ship cruise missile research, development and production - and of foreign procurement - has accelerated over the past decade," the Pentagon report said.

While China has triggered growing American concern over its rapidly expanding military prowess, it is seeking to further ties with other countries by inviting observers to watch military maneuvers.

Military personnel from India, Pakistan, Iran and four Central Asian republics have been permitted to watch how "Peace Mission 2005" unfolds, according to the China Daily.

Colonel Srinivasan Lakshmi Narasimhan from India said the maneuver reflected good cooperation between the PLA and the Russian military, the paper reported.

"It shows the PLA is becoming more open and more self-confident," he told the paper.

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