A two-day Chinese-Tajik military exercise, codenamed
"Coordination 2006," was wrapped up during the weekend in Kulyab,
Tajikistan.
More than 300 Tajik troops from the artillery, infantry and
airborne divisions, as well as a reinforced company of more than
150 Chinese troops, were involved in the exercise.
Tajik Defence Minister Sherali Khairullaev said on Saturday that
the successful Tajik-Chinese military exercises were the fruit of
the mutual trust between the two countries.
Troops practised joint exercises in fire attack,
three-dimensional attack and armed hostage rescue.
The exercise aimed to use joint military forces to search and
destroy terrorism organizations in mountainous areas.
According to the plan of the exercise, around 70 terrorists
carrying small arms kidnapped three Chinese and a Tajik on the
construction site of an expressway, a project aided by the Chinese
government.
The terrorists intended to cross the border connecting
Tajikistan and Afghanistan. A China-Tajikistan joint headquarter
immediately organized military forces to carry out the fight after
obtaining information.
In the face of increasing cross-border actions by international
terrorist groups, armed forces of all countries and coordination
organizations should strengthen mutual trust in their cooperation
and exchanges in order to sharpen their fighting capacity to combat
terrorist attacks, according to Khairullaev.
Speaking highly of the performance of the Chinese troops in the
joint exercises, the minister expressed the hope that the military
forces of the two countries would increase cooperation in
anti-terror and non-traditional security areas in the future.
The Chinese observation delegation, headed by deputy chief of
General Staff of the People's Liberation Army of China Xu Qiliang,
oversaw the exercise from Friday to Saturday.
The mountain warfare exercise, which was held under a memorandum
signed by the Tajik and Chinese defense ministers in Beijing in
April, was designed to enhance the two sides' mutual trust and
cooperative ties as well as to maintain regional security and
stability.
(China Daily September 25, 2006)
