The expansion of Sino-Russian military cooperation to include joint missile defense exercises is an important landmark in bilateral relations, military expert Vasily Kashin told Sputnik.

Last week the 7th Xiangshan Security Forum was held in Beijing, organized by the Chinese Association of Military Sciences and the Chinese Institute for International Strategic Studies.

Speaking at the forum, Major-General Cai Jun of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (CPLA) announced that China and Russia will carry out their second joint missile defense military exercises next year. 

The plan follows the successful computerized joint exercise by the Russian and Chinese missile defense command in May this year. The joint exercises are set to become Russia and China's third annual set of joint military exercises, in addition to the "Peace Mission" and "Naval Interaction" drills.

Vasily Kashin, senior fellow at the Russian Academy of Science's Far Eastern Studies Institute, told Sputnik that May's computerized exercises were modeled on China's HQ-9 anti-aircraft missile systems, which can be used to shoot down short-range ballistic missiles and some types of medium-range missiles. 

"One can assume that the exercises worked on interaction between Russian and Chinese missile defense forces, which requires the creation of a system of automated data exchange between radar stations on both sides," Kashin explained.

Kashin said that naming the new exercises "Aerospace Safety" suggests they will involve the expansion of frameworks of cooperation to enable anti-missile systems to better track targets.

Russia and China both see the deployment of US missile defense systems covering large parts of Europe and Asia as a threat to their security, so holding joint anti-missile drills makes sense, Kashin said.

"The trajectory of American Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBM) towards Russia and China runs through the North Pole, and data from Russian warning stations could be useful to the Chinese. On the other hand, data from Chinese radar stations monitoring the South Pacific and Indian Oceans could be useful for Russia."