Pakistani delegation attends Beijing Xiangshan Forum on security partnership

BEIJING, Oct 25 (APP):The 8th Beijing Xiangshan Forum Thursday brought together over 500 delegates from more than 70 countries including Pakistan and international organizations to discuss greater security cooperation.
A delegation from Pakistan comprising senior defence officials, security experts and scholars attended the forum held at the Beijing International Convention Center.
Chinese Defence Minister, General Wei Fenghe, read a congratulatory letter from Chinese President Xi Jinping, at the opening ceremony.
“The Chinese military is always a staunch force for world peace and stability”, Xi stressed in the letter.
“In the face of emerging traditional and non-traditional security challenges in the world, China will cooperate with other countries with a more open attitude to achieve development and enhance security, and to build a community with a shared future for mankind”, Xi said.
Wei Fenghe also delivered a keynote speech at the opening ceremony, which directly responded to recent accusations and criticisms against China made by US senior officials.
He stressed that China-US military ties were important and sensitive and that both sides should show increased mutual trust to make military ties the stabilizer of China-US relations.
The theme of this year’s forum was “Building a New Type of Security Partnership of Equality, Mutual Trust and Win-Win Cooperation,” with topics for four plenary sessions including “New Ideas for, and New Approaches to, International Security Governance,” “Terrorism Threats and Countermeasures,” “Reality and Vision of Maritime Security Cooperation” and “Challenges and Cooperation in regard to UN Peacekeeping.”
Speaking at the plenary sessions, Russian Deputy Defence Minister, Alexander Fomin discussed the challenge of global terrorism, the role of his country in bringing peace in Syria and Russia’santi-terrorism policy.
Defence Minister of Malaysia, Mohamad Sabu also threw light on the threat of terrorism and the Malaysian perspective of preventing and countering terrorism.
He also shared the Malaysian experience in countering terrorism by rooting out social root causes.
Defence Minister of Nigeria, Mansur Mohammad Dan-Ali shared measures to combat and tackle the threat of Boko Haram, a terrorist organization which had been carrying out terrorist attacks in African countries.
Commander of China’s Armed Police Force, Gen Wang Ning opined that preventing and combating terrorism was a common responsibility of the global community as any single country could not defeat this menace.
He informed that due to comprehensive anti-terrorism policies and counter-terrorism measure, there is no terrorist attack in Xinjiang Autonomous Region during the last 22 months.
Chinese Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs, Zhang Hanhui spoke on international security governance and offered to share China experience with other countries for peace and security inthe world.
Defence Minister of Singapore, Ng Eng Hen appreciated the Chinese government for holding the forum providing an opportunity to the participants to discuss ways and means to enhance security cooperation.
Defence Minister of Serbia, Aleksandar Vulin expressed a need to follow the international law while fighting terrorism.
Vice Minister for North Korean Armed Forces, Col Gen Kim Hyang Ryong said his country was open for the negotiations and making efforts to bring peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.
Four simultaneous special sessions were also held with the topics including the New Dynamics in Northeast Asia Security, Ways and Means for Addressing the Security Issues in the Middle East, Reflection on Military and Security Confidence-Building Measures in Asia-Pacific Region and Artificial Intelligence and the Conduct of Warfare.
The speakers in these sessions discussed the security situation on the Korean Peninsula, Relations among major players and northeast Asian Security, the current security situation in the Middle East, security trends in the Middle East and Roles of Major Powers.
They reviewed the military and security confidence-building measures in Asia Pacific region and gave suggestions for enhancing military and security confidence-building measure in Asia Pacific Region.
They discussed the military application of artificial intelligence and artificial intelligence and the new phase of revolution in military affairs.
Inaugurated in 2006, the forum has been held once every two years from 2006 to 2014. China has invited more foreign defense officials and scholars since 2015,upgrading it to an annual meeting. This year, the Xiangshan forum became the “Beijing Xiangshan Forum.”