The Chinese PLA (Chinese People's Liberation Army) University of National Defense has established a special department, the Defense Affairs Institute, for training senior army officers and civilians from abroad and promoting military exchanges with foreign nations.

Major General Zhu Chenghu, the school's dean, said that the new institute has been set up in accordance with international practice and will adopt international methodology. He called it a historic leap forward for military training of foreigners in China.

There are more than 20 military academies and training bodies in the country involved in the military training of foreigners, and the Chinese PLA University of National Defense is the leader in this field, Zhu noted.

The new institute is based on the university's Foreign Training Department which was set up in the 1950s and has trained several thousands of foreigners from more than 100 foreign countries, he said.

The institute will launch its first training course on international issues on August 16. It will be attended by more than 970 senior army officers from more than 40 nations, the dean said.

(Xinhua News Agency August 7, 2004)