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)