Society

Foreign military officers in China for training

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-03-20 20:44

NANJING - When the Sri Lankan government gave each of its army officers a translated version of "The Art of War" five years ago, Major Anuradha never dreamed of seeing the book's earliest copy.

"The Art of War," written by ancient Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu, is the world's oldest and possibly most famous military treatise. The book was completed during the late 6th century BC.

"His book is very ancient, but some of the ideas inside can not only be applied to the military but also to personal life or even the business field," said Anuradha, who is studying the book and many other military subjects in the International Military Education Exchange Center (IMEEC) in East China's Jiangsu province.

The IMEEC, which was established in 1957, was once a classified organization that carried out missions assigned by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) to provide military training programs for foreign officers.

Nowadays, the IMEEC, under the management of the Nanjing Army Command College, submits its own training plans to the PLA General staff Headquarters. Once the plans are approved and released, countries around the world may select officers for enrolment.

So far, the center has helped train nearly 4,000 mid-level and senior command and staff officers from 107 countries.

In September last year, Anuradha joined 140 foreign officers from 69 countries in taking part in a one-year military training program in the center. In April, they will visit the city of Linyi in the eastern province of Shandong, where the earliest copy of "The Art of War" was found.

During semesters, which range in length from one month to one year, foreign officers will have the chance to enter Chinese warships and fighter aircraft, watch military drills and visit certain Chinese cities, such as the ancient capital Xi'an in northwestern Shaanxi province and the southern coastal city of Shenzhen, which is the country's first special economic zone.

"With an open attitude, we hope to let foreign officers not only understand Chinese armies, but also get in touch with the real China," said Zhou Shihua, the deputy commandant of the college.

In recent years, the center developed more courses to cope with international trends such as anti-terrorism, disaster relief, humanitarian aid, international peacekeeping and anti-climate change measures.

Based on this new curriculum, the staff at the center compiled more than 50 military training books in English, French and Russian. Some of the books have been selected as military education guidelines in some Asian, African and Latin-American countries.

However, organizing trips and compiling books is still the easy part compared with dealing with the kinds of trouble that the foreign officers encounter here.

"The motherlands, social classes and religions vary greatly among the foreign officers at our center. Some are relatives of presidents while others can't even afford to rent an apartment. It poses great challenges for us to make every one of them feel equal and at home," said Qi Renlin, who is in charge of the officers.

According to Qi, petty problems can involve the use of a computer mouse while some are heart-wrenching, such as conflicts between officers from countries at war.

"Once in a while, some officers' careless words would seriously offend others' religious beliefs or national pride. And then we would spend days or even months trying to talk and reason with them before they would finally make up," Qi said.

While hiring special cooks to make Muslim food, fresh bread and dessert to cater to the officers' various tastes, the center has also erected a cultural activity hall where officers can learn to sing Chinese traditional songs, play the erhu (Chinese violin) and practice shadow boxing.

It's common in the center when an officer from a small African country would burst into tears during a flag-hoisting ceremony on his country's national day.

"After I came here, a number of friends from other countries had their own national days celebrated and we all participated in the ceremonies. It's become a tradition," said Major Anuradha.

According to Qi, the national day and the army day in honor of every foreign officer's motherland have been recorded in his notebook and will be celebrated in the center.

"Regardless of their skin color, religion, rank or their country's strength, every foreign officer here enjoys respect and equality," said Qi.