DUSHANBE, August 9, Asia-Plus — Chiefs of staff of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member nations today started strategic negotiations and consultations in Urumqi, northwest China”s Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, Asia-Plus has learned at the Ministry of Defense (MoD).
The source at a MoD said that the negotiations had kicked off a well-prepared joint anti-terror drill sponsored by the SCO members of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
The chiefs of staff of SCO member nations made decision in Urumqi upon receiving alert of an assumed terrorist attack on a Russian town and sent the orders to the commanders of various troops to launch the drill, dubbed “Peace Mission 2007”.
The field practice, involving 500 combat vehicles from Russia and China, about 2,000 Russian and 1,600 Chinese personnel, two paratrooper companies (around 100 men each) from Tajikistan and Kazakhstan, and a platoon from Kyrgyzstan, will continue in Russian military ranges near Chelyabinsk. Uzbekistan will be represented by a group of staff officers. 80 defense attachés accredited in Moscow have been invited to attend the exercise as observers.
This joint anti-terrorism military exercise is aimed to enhance the exchange among SCO member countries and improve their counter-terror capabilities.
We will recall that the first joint exercise was carried out on August 6 at the training ground Chebarkul near the Russian city of Chelyabinsk. The exercise scenario based on a group of terrorists overrunning a village, taking hundreds of residents hostage. On hearing of the invasion, armed forces from China and Russia swiftly dispatched reconnaissance aircraft to the scene, then drew up the details of “Operation Rescue” to tackle the terrorists.
Established in 2001 as a non-military alliance, the SCO initially set dealing with Islamic extremism and other security threats in Central Asia as its goal, but has since expanded its scope to include cooperation in disaster relief and trade.
The SCO never held a full-scale military exercise involving all its member states, but Russia and China have already held several military joint exercises within the framework of the organization, including the Peace Mission 2005 exercise.
