Russia and China plan to hold more joint military exercises in the future to improve the combat skills and professional levels of their militaries, said Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov in Weifang, east China��s Shandong Province Friday.

Russia and China have no intention of establishing military alliance of any form. To maintain regional peace and stability is the common goal of the two countries as members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, said Ivanov at a press conference jointly held with Chinese Defense Minister Cao Gangchuan.

"We have time and again stated that our joint military exercises are not targeted at any third party," Ivanov said."In recent years Russia has taken part in quite a few multilateral and bilateral military exercises, why can't we have such maneuvers with our Chinese friends?"

Ivanov spoke highly of the joint military exercises, saying they "fully reflected and proved the maturity of Russia-China military cooperation, and raised such cooperation to a new level."

The first-ever Sino-Russian joint military exercises, which started on August 18 in Russia's Far East and then moved to the Shandong Peninsula in east China, ended on Thursday.

Source: Xinhua