By Liu Yintang and Liu Yan
GUIYANG, Nov. 8 (ChinaMil) -- The 39th meeting of the joint supervision team for the five-state border disarmament inspection was convened in Guiyang, southwest China’s Guizhou Province on November 6. The meeting was attended by the diplomats and military representatives of China and Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, the Russian Federation and Tajikistan.
The representatives jointly summarized this year’s implementation of the Agreement on Confidence-Building in the Military Field along the Border Areas and the Agreement on the Mutual Reduction of Military Forces in the Border Areas (“Two Agreements”), notified their authorized strength and deployment of troops within the stipulated geographical scope by the agreements, negotiated the arrangements of the implementation of border disarmament agreements for the next year, and mapped out plans to address issues such as network operation management for special information exchanges.
The representatives appraised the joint supervision team’s active contribution over the years to consolidating the friendship and mutual trust of the five countries, safeguarding peace and stability, promoting cooperation and development in the border areas.
They also pointed out that the mutual reduction of military forces in the border areas of the five countries serves as a good platform, a good practice and good tradition for maintaining border security and stability under the framework of the “Two Agreements”.
Based on the geographical scope, armaments, technical standards and personnel requirements as stipulated in the "Two Agreements", the meeting confirmed eight border disarmament inspections in four rounds to be organized in 2019 along Hunchun and Luobei, the eastern part of the China-Russia border, along Bakhty of the China-Kazakh border, and along the Irkeshtam port, a border crossing between China and Kyrgyzstan, with a view to further enhancing mutual trust and cooperation and promoting good-neighborly friendship and development.
Yerik Ashimov, the head of the Joint Party delegation made up by Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan, and Permanent Representative of Kazakhstan at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Secretariat, said that through the work of the joint supervision team, the five countries have accumulated a lot of practical experience in solving border issues, and the Joint Party side is looking forward to further strengthening bilateral and multilateral cooperation with China, working together to address various security threats and challenges, and ensuring a safe and secure environment for the promotion of mutually beneficial cooperation.
