BEIJING, August 1 -- The People's Liberation Army (PLA) has undertaken a range of humanitarian relief missions in disaster-stricken areas overseas in the past five years, defence officials said ahead of today's 79th anniversary of the founding of PLA.

    Zhou Bo, a senior official with the Foreign Affairs Office of the Ministry of National Defence, said 14 countries had benefited from 10 such missions.

    "The Chinese military is committed to offering immediate relief aid and saving lives," he said.

    "These international relief operations have displayed the sincerity of the Chinese Government and been fully acknowledged by the international community."

    The PLA has stepped up efforts to share relief information and has held a number of search-and-rescue drills with foreign military forces in recent years.

    Last November, the PLA naval force held joint search-and-rescue exercises with their counterparts in Pakistan, India and Thailand when visiting the countries.

    And during a visit to the United States by Guo Boxiong, vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission, last month, the two sides agreed to hold a search-and-rescue exercise late this year.

    Zhou said co-operation in logistics support in major international relief efforts was also very important.

    He cited the example of the relief work in tsunami-hit Indonesia in early 2005. The Singapore Civil Defence Force dispatched a military plane to send the Chinese rescue team to the destination, while the Chinese helped a relief team from Mexico with food and drinking water.

    "This co-operation not only facilitated the relief mission but also deepened friendships," Zhou said.

    On the domestic front, nearly 225,000 military personnel have taken part in rescue and relief work this year.

    According to Chang Shengrong, major general of the General Political Department of the PLA, 45,000 soldiers and officers as well as 180,000 reserve troops have helped save and evacuate 900,000 people endangered by flooding, forest fires and other natural disasters.

    The PLA has also sent about 20 aircraft, 1,600 military vehicles and 370 boats to support relief efforts.

    The PLA also participated in the embankment of 1,000 kilometres of dams, transported 1,300 tons of relief materials and restored 300 kilometres of roads.Enditem

    (Source: China Daily)