The Chinese military is willing to increase communication and cooperation with the Albanian military in the field of public health, civil emergency, peacekeeping, personnel training and so on, which promotes the well-being of the people of the two countries
By Senior Colonel Liu Xingjiang*
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Chinese Embassy will not hold any reception to celebrate the 93rdanniversary of the founding of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), which is marked on August 1, 2020. The 1st of August, however, is a unique and significant date for Chinese servicemen and the entire people that should be remembered and commemorated.
It is a date to show respect to PLA for its role of pillar in safeguarding the national security and well-being of the people. Soldiers from the Army, Navy, Air Force, Rocket Force and Strategic Support Force as well as the Armed Police force are taking part in military training and exercises on the land, the sea and in the air, which demonstrates the strong will to defend the national sovereignty and territorial integrity of China.
After the COVID-19 outbreak early this year, the military instantly dispatched more than 4,000 personnel to support the war against the virus in Hubei. In the tough battle lasting more than 80 days, the military medical teams provided 2,856 sick beds, received 7,198 confirmed COVID-19 patients in total, and cured 346 patients aged over 80, the oldest being 100 years old. Soon after the military accomplished the tasks in defeating the virus, warriors from different services marched again to the frontline of flood fight. Up to Mid-July, more than 29,000 military personnel and over 5,000 from the Reserve Force were engaged in anti-flood missions across the south of China.
The 1stof August is a date to remember the efforts and sacrifice the Chinese military makes in friendly cooperation with other countries and operations for world peace and stability. With the spread of COVID-19 across the world, the PLA has actively engaged in international anti-epidemic cooperation with the defense authorities and militaries of many countries. The Chinese military has dispatched military anti-virus experts to four countries, provided epidemic control supplies to the militaries of more than 50 countries and held video conferences with militaries of more than 10 countries to share epidemic prevention and control experience. In these ways, the PLA has contributed the “Chinese strength” to the global anti-virus efforts.
China, as a responsible power of the world, firmly backs the global cause of peace. Since its first participation in the UN peacekeeping operation in Syria in 1990, China has sent more than 40,000 peacekeepers to take part in 25 UN peacekeeping missions and 15 of the peacekeepers sacrificed their lives on duty.
“Chinese peacekeepers, including civilian, military and police, have played a valuable role in several UN operations over the past 30 years, and I commend them for their service under the blue flag,” said Jean-Pierre Lacroix of France, United Nations Under – Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, in a written interview on May28.
China plays an important role in maintaining regional peace and security of key sea lanes. Since 2008, Chinese Navy has deployed 35 escort task forces to the Gulf of Aden and the Somali Sea for anti-piracy missions. Totally around 110 military ships and more than 28,000 military personnel served in the missions, escorting around 7,000 commercial ships of different countries safely and successfully.
It is a date to reaffirm the spirit of friendly cooperation. The virus knows no borders, but friendship stands in hardships. The Chinese military is willing to increase communication and cooperation with the Albanian military in the field of public health, civil emergency, peacekeeping, personnel training and so on, which promotes the well-being of the people of the two countries.
* Defense Attache of the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the Republic of Albania
© Argumentum
