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16,000 PLA soldiers take part in exercise in Inner Mongolia

Chinese soldiers uncover a military vehicle in disguise during the exercise code-named ``North Sword 2005'' at the Zhurihe training base, a tactical drill base in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, yesterday. PHOTO: AP

China yesterday launched major annual war games in Inner Mongolia pitting 16,000 troops against each other in a spontaneous mock battle observed by military officers from a record 24 nations.

Code-named "North Sword 2005," the exercise was being held at the sprawling Zhurihe training base amid dry grasslands about 500km northeast of Beijing, the Shanghai Daily newspaper and other official media reported.

Now in at least their fourth year, the exercises mark a major push toward integrated training involving the army, air force and other branches of the military in battlefield conditions.

The Xinhua News Agency said the exercises posed a "blue army" engaging in a lightening two-pronged attack on a "red army." The mock assault involved hundreds of tanks and armored vehicles, more than 100 artillery pieces and a helicopter squadron, it said.

It called the exercise an "unrehearsed experimental confrontation drill" involving airborne and armored brigades with no preordained outcome.

"What the foreign observers see and hear is entirely the actual situation on the People's Liberation Army's exercise field," it said.

Forty foreign military personnel were on hand for the exercise, Xinhua said, saying they represented the largest number of nations invited to observe the war games since Beijing began allowing foreign observers in 2002.

They included officers from the US, Britain, France, Germany and Australia, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang (秦剛) said in Beijing.

"It will help our practical exchanges, and enhance our mutual understanding, friendship and cooperation between China's military and foreign militaries in terms of military training," Qin said at a regular briefing.

Zhurihe is the main integrated unit training base for the Beijing Military Region, reportedly covering more than 1,000km2.

With the settling of border disputes with Russia and the Central Asian states, Beijing has been able to save money and manpower formerly deployed on its northern and eastern flanks and focus on its coastal regions.

Rapid economic growth in recent years has also led to double-digit increases in budgets for the People's Liberation Army, meaning more money for weapons and training, especially integrated maneuvers.

The military has been steadily trimming its vast but poorly trained troops and has ditched Mao Zedong's (毛澤東) strategy of "People's war," stressing rural guerrilla forces for high-tech warfare.
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