By Xinhua
Beijing : The six member countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) will stage a joint anti-terrorism drill from August 9 to 17, China’s Ministry of Defence said here Thursday.
The exercises, dubbed “Peace Mission 2007”, will be carried out in Chelyabinsk in Russia’s Ural Mountainous region and in Urumqi, capital of northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
All six SCO members, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, will take part.
Altogether 1,600 soldiers from China’s army and air force, including airborne and logistic units, will take part in the drill, the ministry said in a press release.
The exercises are neither aimed at any non-SCO member country nor concern the interests of any non-SCO member nation, said the press release.
The exercises will explore ways of jointly combating terrorism, separatism and extremism.