Asia Defense

Sino-Tajik Counterterroism Drills Reflect China’s Regional Concerns

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Asia Defense

Sino-Tajik Counterterroism Drills Reflect China’s Regional Concerns

Beijing has plenty of regional economic concerns, and strengthening the Tajik military is part of its insurance policy.

Sino-Tajik Counterterroism Drills Reflect China’s Regional Concerns
Credit: benpaarmann / Flickr

Thursday, Chinese troops joined their Tajik counterparts at a training ground in the Ishkoshim district of Tajikistan’s Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region for bilateral counterterrorism drills. The choice of location is functional as well as symbolic: the district borders Afghanistan across the Panj river to the south.

According to an official interviewed by Asia-Plus, the purpose of the exercises is to practice the coordination of a joint counterterrorism mission in a mountainous settling. The official said 10,000 servicemembers, along with armored personnel carriers, artillery and aircraft would be involved in the exercises.  The official said China “will be presented in the exercise by a mobile company of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA).”

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