Article Posted on : - Feb 23, 2011

Chinese soldiers taking part in Pak-China anti-terror drill held in 2010.

BEIJING (BNS): The defence forces of China and Pakistan will hold two joint exercises this year, a senior Pakistani military official has said.

The twin exercises, one involving the armies of the two countries and the other involving their air forces, will be held to mark the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between Pakistan and China, General Khalid Shameem Wynne, chairman of Pakistan's Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, was quoted as saying by Chinese news agency Xinuha.

The Pakistani official, who is on a five-day visit to China, said the two countries would also take part in a multinational naval drill in March this year.

Wynne, who is visiting China for the first time after assuming his current role in October 2010, termed the China-Pakistan bilateral strategic relationship as a “stabilising force” in the region.

The official had led a joint anti-terrorism drill between Pakistan and China in Qingtongxia in northwest China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in July 2010, the news agency said.

The drill, codenamed ‘Friendship-2010’, was the third such operation between the two countries.

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.