TACHENG, Jun. 26 (ChinaMil) -- A nine-person military inspection team from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan, referred to below as the Joint Party, arrived in Tacheng, a city in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region via the Bakhty Port and joined a three-day border disarmament compliance verification task on Tuesday morning. This is the second round of such tasks taken by China and the Joint Party this year.
Prior to this inspection, a nine-member Chinese inspection team entered Kazakhstan via the Bakht Port to inspect the 4th Border Defense Corps of the Kazakhstani border guards stationed in Macanchi. The inspection results show that its weapons and equipment, staffing, deployment points, among other things, all met the requirements of the border disarmament agreements.
This time, accompanied by the Chinese personnel, the nine-person team conducted the inspection of a border defense regiment under the Tacheng military sub-command with a high degree of professionalism and a strong sense of responsibility meticulously. During the inspection, the Joint Party members listened to the Chinese side’s detailed introduction, including the troops’ station, barracks’ distribution, and the presence of personnel. Subsequently, the team carried out an on-site inspection of the sub-command’s office, warehouse, barracks and so on. The inspection team acknowledged and affirmed China’s work and signed the verification report.
Senior Colonel Wang Anshun, representative of the Tacheng border defense troops, said: “The inspections have further deepened the cooperation and mutual trust between the border guards of two sides, effectively safeguarded the security, stability and normal order in the border areas, and made the boundary line between two sides truly a cooperation line, a friendship line, a security line and a development line, which effectively promoted the prosperity and stability of the border areas.”
Colonel Smagulov with the Ministry of National Defense of Kazakhstan, the head of the Joint Party team said: “The team carried out the inspection meticulously and rigorously. We had close coordination and honest cooperation, which not only contributed to the success of the inspection, but also deepened our friendship. I do hope such a spirit of cooperation can be passed down and carried forward.”
It is understood that during the inspection, the two sides also met the goals of increasing mutual trust, dispelling doubts, deepening cooperation, maintaining close ties, and enhancing friendship through discussions and exchanges, mutual visits to border guards and border cities, and organization of cultural and sports activities. All these efforts have created a friendly atmosphere to jointly safeguard peace and security in the border areas.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the five-nation joint inspection team. In 1996, the five countries signed Agreement on Confidence-Building in the Military Field along Border Areas; in 1997, they signed Agreement on Mutual Reduction of Military Forces in the Border Areas, both of which are collectively referred to herein as the “Two Agreements”.
According to the “Two Agreements”, China and the Joint Party (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan), should inspect each other’s border defense forces and technical equipment stationed within 100 kilometers along each side of the border for four rounds, a total of eight times of inspections each year.
In late May, the two sides (China and Joint Party) have completed the first round of inspection tasks in the eastern section of the China-Russia border. The third and fourth rounds of inspections are scheduled to be carried out along the China-Kyrgyzstan and China-Russia borders in mid-July and late August respectively.
