Major General Ahe Suhouv, former Russian military attaché to China, remarked that the level of Chinese military’s overall training has been increasingly elevated and the level of their technology and equipment has kept upgrading. The Chinese military has further proven its current international status to the world in the “Peace Mission 2007” joint military exercise.
The “Peace Mission 2007” joint anti-terrorism military exercise was held at the Chebarkul composite training range in Russia in August of 2007.
That was the first large-scale, long-range and multi-arm out-of-country joint military exercise ever organized in the history of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). It was also the first joint anti-terrorism military exercise that participated in by all the member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
The most eye-catching were the domestically-made equipment, including new-type fighters, helicopters, armored vehicles and others. They were no longer individual pieces of weaponry and equipment, but part of the whole system which demonstrates the comprehensive power of the country.
The Chinese military has rather strict discipline and advanced training. Moreover, its speed of becoming a modernized people’s army is incredible, said Brigadier Vader Achmed, former Pakistani defense and military attaché to China
The “Peace Mission 2007” multinational maritime joint military exercise held in Pakistan was the first multinational maritime joint military exercise that the PLA Navy participated in. Since most of the participating countries in the exercise were NATO member states, the exercise was carried out in accordance with the NATO standards, which posed itself as both a challenge and a tempering for the PLA navy. Nevertheless, as Chinese warships sailed into the waters of the exercise, the foreign servicemen were surprised to discover that the Chinese soldiers were not only fluent in English-speaking, but also clear in mind and concise in expression.
What surprised them even more was the fact that Chinese officers and men were even able to utilize NATO’s tactical rules to formulate exercise plans, and command a joint taskforce composed of 12 warships from 8 participating countries as planned for the first time in English.
By Zhang Qi, Guo Hongwei and Liu Shaohua