Chen Bingde holds extensive talks with Nepalese leadership; Senior Israeli military official visits China; Ma Xiaotian attends the 4th Defense and Security Consultation with Indonesia; Xiaotian also attends 1st Jakarta International Defense Dialogue; PLA’
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    • Reports noted that last week, Chen Bingde, Chief of General Staff of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), visited Nepal for an official 3-day visit He paid this visit at the invitation of General Chhatra Man Singh Gurung, Chief of Army Staff for the Nepalese Army.1 During his visit, he held discussions with Nepalese senior political and military leadership.2 He met the Nepalese President Ram Baran Yadav. The President, on this occasion, said that Nepal and China were neighbors, and the peoples of the two countries had a long history of exchanges. Nepal regards China as a reliable friend and feels gratitude for the understanding and support of the Chinese government, the Chinese people and the Chinese PLA to the social transformation in Nepal, and hopes to work with China to strengthen personnel exchanges at all levels, carry out pragmatic cooperation in a wider range as well as to promote the development of Sino-Nepalese friendly cooperative relations.3

    Chen Bingde also met with Nepalese Prime Minister Jhalanath Khanal. On this occasion, Khanal said that China was an important neighbor of Nepal, and since the establishment of diplomatic ties, the two countries had witnessed constantly deepened relations, continuously expanded cooperation and increasingly enhanced military exchanges. He also reiterated that the Nepalese side felt sincere thanks for the selfless help offered by the Chinese side to the economic and social development of Nepal for a long time, and appreciated China’s understanding and support to Nepal during its peace process and the process of economic and social transformation.4

    According to reports Amir Eshel, Planning Director of the General Staff Headquarters of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) visited China last week. During the visit, he met Lt. Gen. Wei Fenghe, Deputy Chief of General Staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) in Beijing on 21 March. On this occasion, Wei Fenghe said that the peoples of China and Israel enjoyed profound traditional friendship. He reiterated that since the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Israel, the two countries had seen a sustained and healthy development of bilateral relations. 5

    Reports noted that the 4th Defense and Security Consultation between Chinese and Indonesian ministries was held in Jakarta on 22 March. Ma Xiaotian, Deputy Chief of General Staff of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), and Indonesian Deputy Defense Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin co-chaired the consultation. During the consultation, the two sides had an in-depth exchange of views on the regional security situations and bilateral defense cooperation among other issues of common concern.6 On this occasion, Ma Xiaotian also attended the 1st Jakarta International Defense Dialogue (JIDD) and delivered a keynote speech entitled “Strengthening mutual trust and cooperation for Asia-Pacific harmony”. This three-day-long dialogue organized by the Indonesian Ministry of Defense aims at promoting dialogue in the fields of defense and security and promotes regional peace and stability. More than 1,000 representatives including defense ministers and chiefs of general staff from 30-odd countries attended this dialogue where they discussed the world’s current security situation and the security cooperation measures for reinforcement of counter-terrorism, disaster relief and peacekeeping operations.7

    According to reports, recently, a 15-member medical team Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA), from the Health Department of the General Logistics Department and the No. 302 Hospital of the PLA, participated in the 7-day disaster relief exercise of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF). Reports noted that that this was the first time for the PLA medical troops to take part in the international multilateral joint operation and it was also the maiden exercise jointly staged by the PLA medical troops with their counterparts from the member countries of the ARF. The medical team returned to the Nanyuan Airport in Beijing on 20 March. 8

    Meanwhile, China has recently, released its first report on global nuclear posture review in Beijing. The Research Center for Arms Control and International Security under the China Institute of International Studies has released this report. The report gives a briefing on and review of global nuclear events over the past year. This is the first report on the global nuclear posture review publicly released by a Chinese academic research institute.9

    In other developments, the General Staff Headquarters, General Political Department, General Logistics Department and General Armaments Department of the PLA have recently submitted the Opinions on Speeding up the Construction of Modern Barracks to Central Military Commission (CMC). The Opinions stresses that by 2020, the PLA will basically realize systemized, standardized and regularized construction and management of barracks, so as to build up integrated support capacity of barracks that is able to meet the needs of PLA troops in combat preparedness, military training, working and living. 10

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