Foreign and Military Affairs

PLA celebrates foreign ties

By Li Xiaokun (China Daily)
Updated: 2011-03-12 12:01

Major General Qian Lihua (right), chief of Foreign Affairs Office of the Ministry of National Defense, shakes hands with Major Azman Abdul Aziz Rmaf, deputy defense attache from Malaysia. [China Daily]

BEIJING - The People's Liberation Army (PLA) celebrated its 60th anniversary of cooperative relations with foreign militaries on Friday, a move which reaffirms its commitment to transparency.

"Relations between countries and militaries are very much like the relations between people: That understanding leads to trust, and trust sets the basis of cooperation," Major General Qian Lihua, chief of the Foreign Affairs Office of the Ministry of National Defense, said while addressing more than 120 military attaches from 70 countries.

The event comes one week after the Chinese legislature disclosed its annual defense budget during the ongoing annual session of the National People's Congress, China's parliament.

Beijing set up a foreign liaison office under the central military commission of the government to handle China's military diplomacy on March 8, 1951.

Since then, the nation has established contacts with the militaries of more than 150 nations, and military hotlines now link China with a number of nations, including the US, Russia and the Republic of Korea, Qian said.

The major general said in his speech that Beijing has so far deployed more than 17,000 officers and soldiers to UN peacekeeping operations around the world.

Since 2008, 20 Chinese military ships have been dispatched to escort vessels through the Gulf of Aden, so far protecting more than 3,000 ships and preventing 33 pirate attacks.

One highlight of the Foreign Affairs Office's efforts, Qian said, is the introduction of the spokesman system in the Chinese military in 2008.

The PLA's two military spokesmen are officers in charge of the institution's information office.

Joyce Ng'wane Puta, Zambia's defense attache, said she has seen a lot of military collaboration between China and Africa.

"There are so many African attaches here. It is almost like every African country is represented," she said.

"I think China has made important steps to open its military, increasing its transparency. They are becoming more cooperative with each passing day," said Jaime Fortuny, Spanish defense attache to China.

Eleven Chinese military officers are now being trained in Spain, he said, adding that he expects the cooperation to expand.