Alva Review-Courier -

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese and Russian troops have engaged in joint exercises in northwestern China in a sign of growing military ties between Moscow and Beijing amid shared concerns over the instability in Afghanistan.

The military exercises involving ground troops and combat aircraft are to continue through Friday in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.

The region is located in northwestern China east of Xinjiang, where China has detained more than 1 million Uyghurs and members of other Muslim minorities in what it calls a campaign against terrorism and extremism. Critics say the detentions violat...