China and US hold consultations on Arms Control and Non-Proliferation: Kazak Defence Minister Visits China: A Draft Law that Empowers the Government to Levy Compulsory Military Service on Citizens Submitted for a Second Reading
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  • China-US Department-Level Arms Control and Non-Proliferation consultation was held on December 18 in Beijing. Cheng Jingye, Director-General of the Department of Arms Control and Disarmament, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Vann Van Diepen, acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Non-Proliferation of the US co-chaired the meeting which was also attended by representative of important ministries and departments from both states.1

    Meanwhile, Kazak Defense Minister Adilbek was on a visit to Beijing on December 24. Dzhaksybekov met Vice Chairman of China's Central Military Commission, Guo Boxiong where both military leaders agreed to advance friendly and cooperative relations between the armed forces of both countries as reports noted.2

    In other developments, a draft law allowing the Chinese government to mobilize majority of its adult population for defense duties was submitted to the ongoing session National People's Congress for the second reading. According to the draft law, all men aged 18 to 60 and women 18 to 55 would serve in combat and rescue missions to maintain public order in case national defense mobilization is declared.3

    The third mission of the PLA returned home on December 20 having completed its task off Somali coast and the Gulf of Aden. The mission started on July 16, 2009 comprised two frigates and escorted around 600 vessels during this period.4 In a related development, December 26 marked the first anniversary of the participation of PLA Navy’s in the escort action off Somali coast and the Gulf of Aden. Notably, 11 warships in four taskforces of the PLA Navy completed a record of 10,000-odd navigation hours and a voyage of 100,000-odd nautical miles. They escorted around 1,000 merchant ships of over 100 batches ensuring “100% safety of the escorted merchant ships and 100% safety of the taskforces themselves.”5

    Speaking on the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, Wang Mingxiao, Director, Survey and Mapping Information Center and Senior Engineer of the Lanzhou Military Area Command (MAC) of the PLA stated, “National geographical information security has a bearing on national core interest” and “China’s first digitalized railway on plateau (Tibetan) must be surveyed by Chinese people themselves.” the Qinghai-Tibet Railway is the longest line and constructed on the highest plateau and considered the most complicated geological structure in the world.6

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