Foreign and Military Affairs

China, Singapore conduct joint training exercise

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-11-19 20:28

SINGAPORE - China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) and the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) kicked off their second joint counter-terrorism training exercise on Friday.

The COOPERATION 2010 training exercise will focus on counter-terrorism security operations for major international events. About 60 personnel from the SAF and 86 personnel from the PLA are taking part in this nine-day exercise which will consist of seminars, planning exercises and response drills.

The PLA is represented by personnel from the PLA Headquarters, Beijing Military Command, Beijing Garrison and the Chemical Defense Regiment of the Beijing Military Command. They will exercise with personnel from the SAF's 2nd People's Defense Force (2PDF), Headquarters 1st Singapore Infantry Brigade, the SAF Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Explosives (CBRE) Defense Group, the Medical Response Force and the SAF Military Police Command.

The opening ceremony of the drill was officiated by Brigadier- General (BG) Teo Jing Siong, Commander of the SAF's 2PDF, and Major General Gao Jianguo, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Beijing Military Command on Friday afternoon.

During his speech at the COOPERATION 2010 opening ceremony, BG Teo welcomed the PLA troops to Singapore. Recognizing China's potential to contribute to regional security, Teo said that "Singapore welcomes China's continued defence exchanges and interactions with our region at the bilateral and multilateral levels, which would help foster cooperation and better understanding between regional militaries."

The exercise, first held in Guilin, China, in 2009, provides opportunities for personnel of the two armed forces to interact with each other, and better understand and cooperate with each other. COOPERATION 2010 also underscores the warm and growing defense relations between both armed forces, which interact regularly through exchanges of visits, courses, seminars and port calls.