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BEIJING, Sep 30, 1999 -- China and Russia will hold joint naval exercises in October as part of celebrations to mark the 50th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Beijing Youth Daily said on Thursday.
Quoting reports from Moscow, it said a destroyer and a missile-armed escort ship from Russia's Pacific fleet would take part in the October 2-6 exercises with Chinese vessels off Shanghai, the newspaper said.
The exercises -- the first between the two neighbors -- would also mark the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations, the newspaper said. It gave no further details.
Moscow and Beijing -- which virtually stopped talking to each other over a Sino-Soviet ideological split in the 1960s -- have moved noticeably closer since NATO's bombing of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo war earlier this year.
China opposed the bombing from the outset because it had not been approved by the United Nations Security Council and was outraged when NATO bombs destroyed its embassy in Belgrade.
Russian sympathy for fellow Slavs in Serbia was also evident during the NATO campaign, and the two countries both said they wanted a "multipolar world" -- meaning one not dominated by the United States.