The "Peace Mission 2007" anti-terror drill, sponsored by the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), in Chelyabinsk of Russia's Ural Mountains region, will be a milestone of SCO anti-terror cooperation, a Chinese expert said on Thursday.

 

The joint exercise is intended to show the will and determination of SCO members in action to crack down on the "three evil forces" -- terrorism, separatism and extremism, and face new threats and challenges together, Zheng Shouhua, researcher of Chinese Academy of Military Science, told Xinhua.

 

Besides, the exercises will get experiences in three aspects: discussing the basic ways to jointly counter terrorist attacks, discovering joint decision making in planning anti-terror operations, and exchanging ideas on anti-terror preparations and operations, Zheng said.

 

Since the SCO was founded in 2001, the organization has conducted four joint drills, which have accumulated a lot of experience in joint command and joint operation, Zheng said.

 

The ongoing "Peace Mission 2007" anti-terror drill will be a milestone of SCO anti-terror cooperation, he added.

 

The exercises, staged by the six member countries of the SCO, have been carried out first in China's Urumqi, and then in Chelyabinsk, from Aug. 9 to Aug. 17.

 

About 4,000 troops and 80 aircraft from China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan are participating in the joint exercises.

 

The joint anti-terror drill, the first of its kind involving military forces from all SCO members, will be observed by heads of state of the six nations on Aug. 17.

 

The SCO groups Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, China and Russia. Mongolia, Pakistan, India and Iran are observer countries at SCO meetings.

 

(Xinhua News Agency August 17, 2007)