BEIJING: The defence and military cooperation between China and Pakistan will help maintain regional and international peace and security, Ren Guoqiang, spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of National Defence, said on Thursday.

“China and Pakistan share an all-weather partnership. We have maintained a very high level of defence and military exchange and cooperation,” he said while replying to a question.

The spokesperson expressed the confidence that China-Pakistan military exchange and cooperation would help facilitate state-to-state cooperation between the two countries.

Ren Guoqiang said this exchange and cooperation would also maintain regional and international peace and stability.

Regarding military exchanges and joint exercises between the two countries in future, he said that both countries had been discussing it.

China and Pakistan air forces conducted joint training exercise Shaheen VI in China in September last year.

Pakistan Air Force dispatched JF-17 Thunder fighter jets and early warning aircraft to participate in the exercise.

Chinese J-11 fighters, JH-7 fighter-bombers, KJ-200 AWACS aircraft and ground forces, including surface-to-air missiles and radar troops, took part in the exercise.

Published in Dawn, March 30th, 2018