By Li Chen, Lin Congyi, Zhang He and Liu Hongfei
BEIJING, Sept. 2 -- The Great Wall-2022 International Forum on Counter-terrorism wrapped up here on Wednesday. Sponsored by the Chinese People’s Armed Police (PAP), the two-day forum has attracted more than 170 representatives from the armed police forces or armed forces of this kind in 30 countries including China, Russia, Pakistan, Brazil and Italy.
Around the themes of the anti-terrorism international cooperation and the unmanned and smart weaponry in anti-terrorism operations, the participants had exchange of views and discussions on the counter-terrorism ideas, practices and battle examples.
Currently, the global governance system is undergoing profound adjustment, along with emerging traditional and non-traditional security threats and increasing unstable and uncertain factors. Facing a world haunted by covid-19 pandemic, the successful convening of this forum highlights China's willingness and determination to work together with international counterparts to cope with the emerging terrorism threats.
As unmanned equipment and smart technology featured with artificial intelligence being put into use, the combat against terrorism is transforming in speed. During a discussion on the special topic of "the application of unmanned and smart weaponry platform in counter-terrorism operations under different circumstances", Senior Colonel Qu Liangfeng from the Chinese PAP’s Snow Leopard Commando Unit, introduced the innovative development the Chinese armed police units have made in the application of unmanned and smart weaponry to the counter-terrorism operations.
The application of unmanned armor vehicle (UAV) in counter-terrorism operations is a rather brand-new counter-terrorism method in the world, and the Chinese side’s sharing with us is highly appreciated, said Senior Colonel Prathai Chongsakul, the defence and army attaché at the embassy of Thailand in China. He expressed that the forum provided an opportunity for militaries of different countries to make collective discussion and study on the application of UAV as a new tool in counter-terror operations.
During the forum, many participants also talked about the necessity to strengthen international cooperation on counter-terrorism. Lieutenant Colonel Slavenka Lucic from the Police Directorate, Ministry of Interior of Serbia, summarized the country’s experience in fighting terrorism, in particular Serbian Police Directorate’s experience in carrying out cooperation and conducting joint exercises and training with other countries. The Intelligence Colonel Vigneswari Viswanathan from the Army Field Command West, Malaysia, shared his country's experience and practice in exploring cooperation mechanism and enhancing multi-lateral cooperation in counter-terrorism.
“What we need is openness, I hope the countries possessing professional knowledge and experience in counter-terrorism are willing to share their knowledge and experience with less experienced countries,” said Brig. General Evaristo Sakala, defence attaché at the Zambian embassy in China, when talking about strengthening international cooperation on counter-terrorism.
“The themes of the Great Wall-2022 are forward-looking that inspires study, which blazes a new direction for exploration and study on strengthening international counter-terrorism cooperation in response to a more complex and volatile counter-terrorism situation,” Senior Colonel Mi Yanguang from the Chinese PAP’s Falcon Commando Unit told reporters in an interview before the closing ceremony of the forum.
When addressing the closing ceremony of the forum via video link, Major General Nguyen Ngoc Thanh, deputy commander of the Mobile Police Command of Vietnam, also spoke highly of this forum by saying that the successful convening of this forum will inject new momentum for international counter-terrorism cooperation and further promote the building of cooperative relations between law enforcement forces of countries in the world so as to effectively combat terrorism.
As an important brand of international military cooperation created by the Chinese PAP, before the Great Wall-2022, the Great Wall International Forum on Counter-terrorism was held in 2016, 2018 and 2019 under the themes of “urban counter-terrorism strategy”, “mountain counter-terrorism strategy”, and “special force sniping" respectively.
