(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-06-10 19:02

Commentator He Liangliang of Phoenix TV deemed the rescue efforts in mountainous areas by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) as more difficult than any other military exercise.

China has not engaged in war with other countries for many years and and this calamity acted as a real test for PLA's combat capability in peace time, He said.

"The PLA's rapid operation in emergency has proved it is a mighty armed forces to safeguard peace," he said.

Chen Hu, "World Military Affairs Magazine" editor in chief, noted the important role played by modern military technology during this disaster rescue and relief.

Besides the frequent flights by modern transporters and helicopters, 15 satellites continued to collect data of quake-hit regions and this was very important to organizing the rescue operation, he said.

Before the quake, there was no large scale adoption of modern technology in the country's disaster rescue. "This time, the extensive usage of satellite technology greatly enhanced the PLA's combat capability," Chen said.

He admitted there was still a distance between the Chinese armed forces and their counterparts in developed countries in terms of military modernization.

Chen expressed his hope the Chinese armed forces could speed up their modernization process and further improve their diversified capability, including combating disaster relief in the future.

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