China and Russia are engaging in joint military exercises in northwestern China in a sign of growing military ties between Moscow and Beijing. The exercises involving ground troops and combat aircraft will continue through to Aug. 13 in the Ningxia Region. The region is located in northwestern China, east of Xinjiang. It is where the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has detained more than 1 million Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Uzbeks, Tajiks, and other religious minorities in forced labor camps. The United States has declared China’s detention of the Uyghurs an act of genocide, while China said it was a response to “terrorist activities” in the region. Beijing has said the joint exercises would be a chance for China and Russian to mitigate concerns in the region about any potential overspill of violence from the increasing conflict occurring in Afghanistan following the pullout of U.S. allied forces. China shares a 46 mile …