China says joint war games with Pak not aimed at India

Beijing, Nov 9: China and Pakistan are to hold joint military exercises on the outskirts of Islamabad with Beijing claiming that the war games were not aimed at putting pressure on India.

The annual 'Friendship 2011' joint military exercises are billed as anti-terror maneuvers aimed at handling non traditional security threats, a Chinese Defence Ministry statement published in state-run China Daily said on Wednesday.

However, the statement did not specify the dates of the war games which are the first joint drill by the two armies this year.

"This is the first joint drill of the two armies this year and is not targeted at any third nation. It is aimed at enhancing the capability of the two militaries to handle non-traditional security threats and launch joint anti-terror activities," the statement said while referring to Indian media reports that the exercises were aimed at putting pressure on New Delhi.

China-Pakistan held such an exercise in China's Ningxia province last year where the two sides focused honing skills to counter terror threats.

China has deployed large number of its anti-terror squads in Xinjiang, bordering Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (POK).

Tensions prevailed in Xinjiang for the past few years following Uyghur Muslims resentment over increasing settlements of mainland Han Chinese.

A Chinese security analyst Fu Xiaoqiang said the Indian media report is groundless.

"They always wear blinkers to examine China's cooperation with Pakistan. For example, we all know there are many Chinese experts and engineers in Pakistan working on large projects. It is the Indian media who linked that with security issues," he said.

PTI