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On
August 25, 27 military observers from 15 countries including
the U.S, Russia, the U.K, France, Germany, Israel, South Africa,
Canada, Thailand and Pakistan came to a combined tactical
exercise base in Zhurihe in north China's Inner Mongolia to
watch a confrontation exercise with real troops by a unit
of armored brigade from the Beijing Military Area Command.
The exercise was the first of its kind to be open to foreign
military observers. The performance of Chinese troops won
their loud applauses.
Though
coming from different countries and speaking different tongues,
the observers are all experts in the area of military exercises.
They warmly clapped their hands when they reached the modern
1 000 km2 exercise base. It is a large modern combined tactical
drill base with mountains, hills and plains designed to provide
a base for military exercise with troops at division and corps
level.
A
senior officer of the U.S. Army told reporters that he was
very pleased to be invited to watch the exercise and that
a U.S. training center held large scale exercises for territorial
forces every 7 months and that was the place where solders
learn how to fight. He added that your training center in
Zhurihe was great and it was an ideal place for exercises.
A brigade commander from a Singaporean armored unit said that
as one of the first foreign observers to come to the exercise
base he felt very happy and was shocked by the first large
exercise he saw in China. He continued that Singapore was
very small in size and could only rent foreign base for exercises.
On
the way to the base were neatly aligned military vehicles
and equipment including helicopter gunship, tanks, armored
vehicles, infantry vehicles, artilleries and nearly 5 000
soldiers wearing camouflage uniforms belonging to different
arms of the army. The foreign observers showed great interests
in the exercise.
The
foreign visitors arrived at their destination at 10:00am to
watch the exercise in which the "Blue Army" and "Red army"
launched fierce "attacks" against each other using various
kinds of vehicles and equipment in a large area. Foreign observers
recorded the exercises using their cameras or video cameras.
After
the six-hour practice, organized by China's Beijing Military
Command, Steven Krstic from Britain said it was the first
time for him to see so much Chinese military equipment as
well as so many different kinds of Chinese armaments.
These
war games were very successful, and it was good for China
to invite foreigners to observe them, said Ahmet Celik from
Turkey.
A
brigade commander from a U.S. infantry unit commented that
the exercise was organized in a scientific way, neither side
knew the other's situations and it was like a real battle.
A Tanzanian defense official praised the modernization of
the Chinese troops and the effective coordination among different
arms of the army.
According
to the Foreign Affairs Office of the Ministry of National
Defense, the invitation of foreign military observers to watch
the exercise was designed to increase military exchanges and
cooperation between China and the rest of the world, to adjust
to new military changes in the world and to build up friendship
and mutual confidence.
Some
comments from those observers echoed the words of the office.
A senior Russian officer said that the base was advanced,
modern and practical and that the exercise could serve to
increase the friendship and cooperation between the two countries.
A Turkish military attache showed great interest in saying
that they saw these highly qualified Chinese troops and the
exercise would help strengthen military understanding and
exchanges between China and Turkey. He finally added that
the Chinese soldiers were welcome to Turkey to watch its military
drills.
Written
& photoed by Zhang Kunping
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