Malaysian Prime Minister and Liberian Defense Minister visit China; Post-retirement lives of military officers and soldiers in China; Military exercise to be carried out soon to test antiterrorist capabilities of Beijing
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    • Last week saw two important foreign dignitaries visiting China - one being Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak and another being Liberian defense minister Brownie J. Samukai. During the discussions held with these dignitaries, their support to peaceful and consultation based solution of the South China Sea disputes, and One-China policy was reinforced. The Malaysian prime minister met Chinese premier Wen Jiabao on June 3. During the meeting, both Premier Wen Jiabao and Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak reaffirmed their faith in resolving this issue through consultation and dialogue. The Chinese premier maintained that dialogue and cooperation over this issue should be strengthened and carried out in such a way that peace and stability remains unharmed in the region. During the talk, he expressed his opinion that peace and stability should be jointly safeguarded in the region by all concerned parties1.

    Liberian defense minister Brownie J. Samukai also met Liang Guanglie, state councilor and defense minister of the PRC, and held talks with him on June 3, 2009 in Beijing. During the talks, Liang Guanglie appreciated Liberia’s support to One-China policy and China’s reunification. Similarly the Liberian defense minister also acknowledged and appreciated China’s help that has been extended to the Liberian government, military and people in their efforts to restore peace and reconstruct their nation. He described Chinese help as “great” and “honest”. Both defense ministers expressed their willingness to further deepen and consolidate mutual cooperation. On this occasion, while the Chinese defence minister assured that the People’s Liberation Army is committed to take cooperation with its Liberian counterpart to various different fields, his Liberian equivalent also assured that Liberia will continue its support to One-China policy2.

    Assigning new jobs to discharged military officers has emerged as a major responsibility for the Chinese government. According to Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping, more than 4 million discharged army personals have been given reemployment in civil domain in the last six decades. He said that either retired army persons can find jobs for themselves or they can avail government’s help in this regard. The government is committed to provide them jobs in civilian sector after their retirement from armed forces. Xi Jinping was speaking at a meeting last week, attended by the military and civil affairs department. The purpose of this meeting was to address the issues and problems faced by military personals after their retirement. In this meeting, he acknowledged the need of an effective system to take care of post-military lives of soldiers and officers3.

    A national anti terror exercise “Great Wall-6” is going to begin on coming June 9 in China. This exercise will consist of a series of specialized drills and take place in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Shanxi and Hebei provinces that surround Beijing. The timing and place of this exercise is important as it is going to be carried out less than four months ahead of the celebrations of the 60th founding anniversary of the People's Republic of China and it is going to be conducted in the regions surrounding Beijing. The purpose of this exercise is to test the anti terrorist capabilities of these areas, particularly of the national capital “to combat terrorism and deal with emergencies”4.

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