Article Posted on : - Mar 08, 2010

BEIJING (PTI): China and Pakistan will conduct a joint anti-terrorism military exercise here this summer, the third such operation between the two countries, the Ministry of National Defence has said.

Top military officials of the two countries have already started discussions for the anti-terror exercise code-named "Friendship-2010," the ministry said on Sunday.

The training was not targeted at any third party, but aimed at "deepening the friendly and cooperative relationship between the two armies" while "enhancing their capabilities in coping with terrorism and safeguarding regional peace and stability," state-run Xinhua news agency quoted the Ministry as saying, without giving further details of the first round of discussions held from March 1 to 3.

China and Pakistan held their first-ever joint anti-terrorism exercise code-named "Friendship-2004" in Xinjiang's Taxkorgan Tajik autonomous county bordering Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

About 200 border troops from both sides participated in the drill, the report said.

More than 400 troops from both armies took part in the second joint anti-terror military training, code-named "Friendship-2006", in the hilly area of northern Pakistan's Abbottabad.

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi on Sunday underlined its determination to deepen the "all weather relations" with its key ally Pakistan and said Islamabad was in effective control of the situation in the country amid rise in Islamist militancy.