Beijing ? Thousands of Chinese and Russian troops launched a mock amphibious landing on a Chinese beach Wednesday as Moscow’s defense minister said the joint war games underscored a growing strategic partnership between the former Cold War adversaries.

Chinese state television showed fog and rain blanketing the coast of the northern Chinese province of Shandong as landing craft disgorged troops and amphibious tanks and armored vehicles in the heavy surf.

Bombers and fighter jets attacked imaginary targets on shore as soldiers charged through seaside scrub and rappelled down ropes from helicopters.

Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov met Wednesday with his Chinese counterpart Cao Gangquan, telling him the unprecedented war games showed their “strategic cooperative partnership has entered into a new stage,” China’s official Xinhua News Agency said.

The eight-day exercise, dubbed “Peace Mission 2005” and expected to end today, involved about 7,000 Chinese troops and 1,800 Russians, along with state-of-the-art warships, warplanes and armor.