China holds training course for border inspectors

"The disarmament in the border areas between China and the four countries, namely Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan, strengthens the mutual trust and cooperation among the militaries, maintains the peace and stability of the areas along the 7,000-odd-kilometer-long border in northern China and is beneficial to the normal development of the friendly relations among the five countries," said Luo Yongbin, deputy director of the Department of Boundary and Ocean Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China (PRC), on May 27, 2013 during　　the three-day-long training course for the border disarmament inspectors from China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan.

The training course aims at further standardizing the border disarmament inspecting activities and strengthening the inspectors' capabilities and qualities. During the training, the participants unanimously held that the border disarmament is helpful to strengthen the mutual trust and clear up the doubts among the five countries which will bring positive impact on the regional stability and development.

The diplomatic and military departments of the five countries have been conscientiously implementing the two agreements, namely the Agreement on Strengthening the Trust in the Military Field in the Border Areas and the Agreement on Mutually Reducing Military Forces in the Border Areas jointly signed by the heads of the five countries at the end of last century.

According to Huang Xiaodong, deputy director of the Border Defense Bureau of the Chinese Ministry of National Defense, several mutual inspecting activities are held in the border areas each year according to the two agreements, which witness the numbers of military personnel, weapons and equipment as well as military technology equipment within the applicable geological scopes to date are all below the maximum limits specified in the agreements and the situations and issues breaching the agreements never occurred in the past years.

During the training, the participants will observe the inspecting activities of a joint inspecting team of various sides in a frontier defense regiment under the Heilongjiang Provincial Military Command of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA).