Nepal, China speak highly of military ties

The Chinese Embassy in Nepal held a reception on Saturday in Kathmandu to mark the upcoming 85th anniversary of the establishment of Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA).

Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Yang Houlan and Defense Attache Senior Colonel Cheng Xizhong along with representatives of the Chinese communities in Nepal and diplomats from the Chinese community in Nepal and other embassies attended the reception.

Defense Attache Cheng recalled Chinese PLA's contribution towards enhancing the comprehensive development in accordance with the principle of integrating revolutionalization, modernization and regularization and continuously accelerated revolution in military affairs with Chinese characterization.

"According to the constitution of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and other relevant laws, the armed forces of China undertake the sacred duty of resisting foreign aggression, defending the motherland and safeguarding overall social stability, " according to Cheng.

"China unswervingly maintains its belief in valuing peace above all else, advocating the settlement of disputes through peaceful means and prudence over the issue of war," Cheng said.

Similarly, Cheng also said that China and Nepal as well as their peoples have established harmonious relationship and deep friendship for a long time. "The exchanges between the Chinese PLA and the Nepalese Army have maintained an all dimensional, multi- tier and wide-ranging trend in recent years, which have laid a solid foundation for mutual trust and understanding," he said.

Likewise, talking to Xinhua on the occasions, Spokesperson of Nepal Army Brigadier General Ramindra Chhetri expressed his best wishes to the PLA on the occasion.

"PLA and Nepal Army have maintained cordial relations ever since the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries in 1955. I would, thus, like to extend my best wishes to the PLA on the occasion," Chhetri said.

Likewise, Defense Attache at the Pakistan Embassy in Nepal Colonel Mumtaz Hussein also expressed his best wishes to PLA on the occasion.

"Pakistan and China have maintained great military ties in terms of exchanges of training to the PLA members. I would therefore like to extend best wishes to PLA on the occasion," Hussein said.

Similarly, leader of Nepali Congress and former Minister for Foreign Affairs, Sujata Koirala said, "Our founder BP Koirala always lay great emphasis to Nepal-China friendly relations, following his ideologies, we are ever committed to maintaining good relations with China and thus on this occasion we would like to express our best wishes to PLA."

Similarly, Tamla Ukyab former Nepali consul general in Lhasa also extended his best wishes to PLA on the occasion.

Ever since the establishment of Nepal-China bilateral relations between Nepal and China in 1955 the country has also made several military exchanges which include training of the militaries in both countries.

In 2011, China provided 7.7 million U.S .dollars military aid to Nepal by Chinese Central Military Commission Gen Chen Bingde in Beijing during the latter's high level military visit to Nepal in 2011.