From http://newsmax.com, one evaluation by outsiders concerning the recent exercises:
China-Russian Military Exercise: U.S. Targeted
When China and Russia recently conducted a joint military exercise in the Far East, it was widely considered to be a show of force against Taiwan. But some observers say the real target was – the United States.
The main thrust of the historic air-land-sea war games was on the Shandong Peninsula, opposite North and South Korea across the Yellow Sea and far from Taiwan.
Both China and Russia provide military supplies to North Korea, which borders the two countries.
“If a preemptive war by the U.S. would overthrow North Korea’s nuclear-armed despotic regime, neither Russia nor China would want U.S. and/or Japanese troops posted in North Korea,” the Asia America Initiative’s newsletter reports.
The exercise was described in China’s official press as “simulating aid to a third country that has broken down because of terrorist violence.”
But China and Russia do not regard Taiwan as a “country.” And the Chinese government has repeatedly described some American military actions – in the Balkans, for instance – as a form of state terrorism against a weaker nation.
The exercise deployed strategic bombers, jet fighters, submarines, naval infantry landing craft, paratroopers and 100 Chinese tanks.
The Russian military said the objective included seizing a beach in a “foreign country” in advance of a land offensive by China.
“The most likely scenario for such a real-world conflict would not be the island of Taiwan, but the Korean peninsula,” according to the Asia America Initiative.
Toward the end of the exercise, the Russians planned to use long-range bombers to fire cruise missiles at naval targets.
The newsletter points out: “The last time anyone checked, Osama bin Laden did not have a conventional navy.
“Logically, this phase of the exercise could only be aimed at U.S., Japanese and South Korean naval forces.”