BEIJING, February 11 (ChinaMil) -- Xi Jinping, president of the People's Republic of China (PRC) recently visiting Sochi in Russia, and Russian President Putin held a video communication together with captains of the Chinese and Russian warships participating in the joint mission of escorting the shipping of Syria's chemical weapons on February 6, 2014. They delivered festival greetings and good wishes to the officers and men.
On this dual key occasion of the Chinese New Year and Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games, the greetings extended by the heads of both countries together to the officers and men of the two countries on an international occasion served, on the one hand, to praise and honor the contribution made by the officers and men of the navies of both countries to safely and successfully destroy Syria's chemical weapons and push for the political solution of the Syria issue and, on the other hand, to realize the high-level and high-standard partnership in the comprehensive strategic cooperation between China and Russia, which bears great strategic significance in further promoting the strategic mutual trust and traditional friendship between the two countries and the two militaries.
The Chinese military and the Russian military have long maintained a close friendship. Such close collaborations between the two militaries in recent years as the joint military exercises of "Peace Missions" and "Maritime Joint Exercises" have shown the determination in joint efforts to fight against the "three evil forces" of terrorism, separatism and extremism and safeguard regional security and stability, furthering the understanding and trust between the two militaries.
The joint mission of escorting the shipping of Syria's chemical weapons undertaken by the Chinese and the Russian navies is a concrete move to continuously deepen the pragmatic cooperation between the two militaries. For the joint mission, the Chinese military and the Russian military held consultation meetings in December of 2013. During the two joint missions to escort the shipping of Syria's chemical weapons in this year, captains of the Chinese and the Russian warships held two tactical consultations and one joint training with the warships of both sides always holding a good relationship of open-mindedness, mutual trust and cooperation, which plays an active role in promoting the deepening of the practical and friendly cooperation between the two militaries.
The dispatch of warships by both China and Russia to perform the joint mission of escorting the shipping of Syria's chemical weapons proves again that the defense cooperation between the two countries will help to safeguard world peace and stability. As the permanent member states of the UN Security Council, China and Russia have recently strengthened coordination with each other in solving some global and regional issues and have carried out good interaction and cooperation, making active contributions to the peaceful solution of these international issues.
The Syrian issue is complicated and difficult while China and Russia have closely collaborated for multiple times on the UN stage to create space on the track of political solution for the Syria issue. The participation of both countries' warships in the joint mission of escorting the shipping of Syria's chemical weapons conforms to the international laws and conduces to the political solution of the Syria issue as well as the regional and global security. It is in this sense that the joint action of the navies of the two countries is a mission not only to escort the shipping of Syria's chemical weapons but also to escort the regional security and the world peace.
The joint operation to escort the shipping of Syria's chemical weapons by the navies of China and Russia has written down an active case of handling the challenge to regional security through cooperation. This operation also reflects the political duty assumed by both countries on behalf of international security and world peace. It is foreseeable that both China and Russia will continue their commitment in the future to safeguard world security and stability and write new chapters for the career of human peace.
By Zhang Junshe, deputy director of the Military Academic Research Institute under the Navy of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLAN)
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