Associated Press of Pakistan,
BEIJING: Pakistan and China plan to hold joint armed forces exercises in China next year, said the Chief of General Staff Lt. General Salahud Din who was here on a good will visit. The General Salahud Din who was leading a delegation from Pakistan army while talking to APP on the conclusion of his 5-day visit on Friday said that in the past army and navy of both the countries had conducted exercises in Pakistan, but now we want to enlarge the scope of these drills.
“We already plan to carry out another exercise in year 2008 in China at the armed forces level”, he noted.
“As we are all aware that Pakistan and China are very close friends with very deep rooted under standing on all regional and international issues”, he said adding that “China’s support for Pakistan and Pakistan’s for China at regional and international forums is very well known.”
In same way, he pointed out that the military to military relations between the two countries are again unprecedented.
He said that his visit was to reinforce these bonds especially between two armies, to discuss the equipment we need to induct for Pakistan army, offering them more number of courses and also inviting Chinese side to visit Pakistan on reciprocal basis.
He said that Pakistan has benefited a lot from these interactions and especially gained expertise in the field of joint ventures.
These joint ventures are in all the three defence areas – the air force, navy and army.
In the field of air force, the CGS pointed out that we have shining example of joint production of JF-17 Thunder fighter plane, for Navy we are likely to carry out and co-produce the F-22B frigate, while as far as army is concerned we have long association for the state of the art Al-Khalid and upgradation of Al-Zarrar tanks.
The CGS, said that during his stay in Beijing he also met with the Assistant Chief of General Staff of Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) Lt. General Song Ling Gua.
He also visited the 6th armored division of PLA and National Defence University, besides visiting Chengdu where he held meeting with Regional Military Commander.
“I am certain that my visit will prove a positive step to further cement relations between the two countries especially in the field of defence”, he noted.
