The new commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet said yesterday the Navy is "very interested" in the first-ever joint military exercises that China and Russia plan to hold over the next eight days.

Adm. Gary Roughead said he'll be watching to see what kind of equipment the two countries will use and how they'll work together.

"We're very interested in the exercise ... the types of things that they'll do," Roughead said. "We're interested in the complexity and the types of systems that they bring to bear."

China and Russia plan to gather some 10,000 troops from land, sea and air forces for joint drills dubbed "Peace Mission 2005" on China's northeastern coast.

Roughead declined to say whether the United States would dispatch ships of its own to monitor the exercises starting today, replying only that "I don't talk about the specifics of our operations."

Roughead, 54, said he was curious how the two navies would operate and how they would command and control their forces. He added he would also be looking at how they would "integrate in a combined way."

Analysts say the joint exercises are primarily an opportunity for Moscow to showcase its weaponry to Beijing, an active consumer of Russian military hardware. The two nations also are expected to use the opportunity to display their military power.

Roughead commands the Pacific Fleet, which is based at Pearl Harbor, at a time when the Pentagon is considering moving an aircraft carrier to either Guam or Hawai'i from the U.S. Mainland and perhaps shifting more submarines to the region.

"There's a growing sense in our country and military that our future is going to be very heavily tied to Asia," Roughead said. "The imperative of maintaining stability and the prosperity in the region will be the key to our security and prosperity in the future."

Roughead, who has spent five of the past 12 years in Pacific posts, said he has been watching as China has upgraded its military, taking note as its submarine patrols and surface ships stretched beyond earlier areas of operation closer to its eastern coast.

He said he was most curious about China's motives.

"Clearly they are modernizing very quickly, they're acquiring and producing some very capable systems. So it's easy to see the capability that they're building," Roughead said.

"The great interest I have is to what purpose do they want to use the military. How do they seek to employ it in the future and what does it mean for the region?"

Last month, a Pentagon report said China is buying new weapons systems while developing new doctrine for modern warfare and improving training.

"The big question is what's it for?" Roughead said. "It's still a little unclear what their intentions are in developing a military with the type of capability and reach they have."