KPP20050815000206 Seoul Yonhap in English 2248 GMT 15 Aug 05

WASHINGTON, Aug. 15 (Yonhap) -- The United States will be watching China-Russia military exercises beginning this week, taking place for the first time amid discomfort over the two nations' growing influence in the region, a senior State Department official said Monday.

"We are watching the exercises. We will watch what happens," a senior State Department official said Monday.

"Certainly our military analysts will watch the exercises," he said.

The official said the U.S. received a briefing on the exercises.

Department spokesman Sean McCormack, at a daily briefing, said the U.S. had been "advised" about the exercises and expected they would take place "in a manner that supports the mutual goal of regional stability."

He added a note of concern, saying, "we would hope that anything that they do is not something that would be disruptive to the current atmosphere in the region."