Ten breakthroughs of China's military diplomacy in 2014 (2)

NO.6 China participated in two international competitions for the first time

Event playback: The "Aviadarts 2014" and "Tank Biathlon-2014" were hosted by Russia in July and August respectively.

Consisting of such real-combat application subjects as air navigation skill and air-to-ground attack, the "Aviadarts 2014" was participated by more than 30 teams, including the PLA Air Force (PLAAF) team with three Su-30 aircraft.

Teams from 12 countries participated in the "Tank Biathlon-2014". Except for the Chinese PLA Army team that used four homemade T-96A tanks, all other teams used the improved T-72 tanks provided by Russia.

Reason for listing: It was the first time for the Chinese military to participate in those two international competitions, and the "Tank Biathlon-2014" even marked the first time that the main battle equipment of the PLA Army participated in an international competition overseas, indicating the continuously deepened strategic mutual trust and pragmatic cooperation between the Chinese and Russian militaries.

Meanwhile, participating in those competitions enabled the Chinese teams to discover deficiencies and learn experience, and provided beneficial reference for them to transform the training concept, promote training innovation and deepen training reform.

NO.7 Chinese military assigned troops to aid West Africa in fighting Ebola for the first time

Event playback: The Chinese military has successively assigned about 300 people in multiple medical teams to Sierra Leone and Liberia, areas in West Africa that are seriously hit by Ebola, since mid-September. It built in Sierra Leone an Ebola patient observation and treatment center with 78 beds and a diagnosis and treatment center in Liberia with 100 beds.

Reason for listing: The anti-Ebola medical teams assigned by the Chinese military to West Africa well illustrated China's proactive assumption of its responsibilities as a major country. They contributed to the effective prevention and control of the Ebola epidemic and won unanimous praises in the international community.

NO.8 China and the US built two mutual trust mechanisms

Event playback: The Chinese and American presidents jointly announced on November 12, 2014 that the two sides had signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on establishing "two mutual trust mechanisms", namely the mutual reporting and trust mechanism on major military operations and the code of safe conduct on naval and air military encounters between the two sides.

Reason for listing: This was the first time that the Chinese and American militaries set up such mutual trust mechanisms. They provide the institutional guarantee for the long-term and stable development of relations between the two militaries, and serve as an important measure to strengthen their mutual understanding of each other's strategic intentions, intensify strategic mutual trust, manage and control crisis, and prevent risks.

NO.9 Xiangshan Forum was upgraded to a track-1.5 event

Event playback: The 5th Xiangshan Forum was held by the China Association for Military Sciences (CAMS) in Beijing in November 20-22, 2014. More than 300 representatives, including official delegations from 47 countries and four international organizations as well as well-known scholars, held extensive discussions and exchanges around the theme of "Win-win Cooperation: Building the Asian Community of Common Destiny".

Reason for listing: Compared with the previous four forums, this year's Xiangshan Forum was upgraded from a track-2 unofficial event for exchanges to a track-1.5 high-end security and defense forum integrating both official and unofficial features. It was the first time that the Chinese military held such a high-level multilateral security dialogue.

NO.10 Battalion-level peacekeeping troop unit was assigned for the first time

Event playback: A Chinese peacekeeping infantry battalion held an oath-taking rally on December 22, 2014 before leaving for South Sudan for a peacekeeping mission. The 700-strong infantry battalion included an infantry squad of 13 female soldiers, the first of its kind assigned by China to carry out peacekeeping tasks overseas.

Reason for listing: Previous Chinese peacekeeping troop units were mainly engineering, transportation, medical service and security guard detachments. This was the first time for China to send an organic infantry battalion for peacekeeping mission in history.

(The events are listed in the order of time)