By Sun Xingwei, Li Chen and Huang Panyue
ZHENGZHOU, Sept. 6 -- The UN peacekeeping field training exercise, Shared Destiny-2021, kicked off at the Queshan County in Central China's Henan Province on September 6.
Participating troops from the militaries of China, Mongolia, Pakistan and Thailand started training right after the opening ceremony of the exercise. It is learnt that the training exercise will be organized in three stages, namely, independent training for troops of different specialties, joint training involving all the participating troops from the four countries in mixed training groups, and the training demonstration and observation.
The Shared Destiny-2021 UN peacekeeping field training exercise will conclude on September 15. It is the first multilateral UN peacekeeping field training exercise organized by the Chinese military, and also the first joint exercise to test the achievements made in the construction of its peacekeeping standby forces.
Under the theme of "Joint Operation of Multinational Peacekeeping Forces", the exercise aims to respond to the UN's "Action for Peacekeeping" initiative, serves to build a community with a shared future for mankind, and to promote practical cooperation among troop-contributing countries to make concerted efforts in enhancing the peacekeeping standby forces’ capability of carrying out tasks.
Based on the UN Standard Operating Procedures, rules of engagement and actual combat standards, the exercise set up a joint command composed of commanding officers from participating countries. The main training items include battlefield reconnaissance, vigilance and patrol, armed escort, protection of civilians, response to violent and terrorist attacks, establishment of temporary operating bases, battlefield rescue and epidemic control, which basically covered the main operations of current UN peacekeeping missions.
Relevant leaders from the Central Military Commission departments, the PLA Army and the PLA Central Theater Command attended the opening ceremony of the exercise.
