Further context is that Belarus just joined SCO, which is the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. It's similar to BRICS, but is more focused on Eurasia and Central Asia. In terms of the meaning of it, China is being passive aggressive about the exercise. But Belarus is much more explicit: At a press briefing on Friday, Vladimir Kupriyanyuk, the deputy head of the general staff of Belarus’s armed forces, said that the joint exercise [with China] was a response to “the aggressive foreign policy of the West towards the Union State of Belarus and Russia.” https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2024-07-10/chinas-brushback-pitch-against-nato