Drills to combat weapons smuggling
Print Edition
CHINESE and Kyrgyzstan border forces held exercises in China’s Xinjiang region yesterday to bolster defenses against the smuggling of weapons.
China has stepped up security in Xinjiang in its far west amid fears of attacks by militants in the region.
Helicopters, armored jeeps and 700 border police officers from the neighboring countries took part in the exercise in Xinjiang’s Kirgiz Prefecture, Xinhua news agency reported.
The drills were observed by officials from all countries in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a security bloc comprising China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India and Pakistan, Xinhua said.
Chinese officer Chen Dingwu, who was in charge of the exercise, said the troops were simulating weapons smuggling by militants from Kyrgyzstan into China.
Video footage broadcast by China’s state media showed a police van cutting off a minibus and then speedily reversing away through simulated explosions as an attacker strikes the van’s windshield with a baton.
Other footage showed helicopters firing what appeared to be live missiles at a mountaintop target, jeeps mounted with machine guns subjected to simulated ambushes, and officers practicing riot control with police dogs.
Beijing says security in Xinjiang is under threat from militant separatists, in particular from the East Turkestan Islamic Movement.
Xinjiang is an important section of China’s Belt and Road initiative that has been designed to expand trade and energy networks along the old Silk Road to the Middle East and Europe beyond.
Xinjiang shares a 5,700-kilometer border with eight separate countries and has 15 dry ports.
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