PLA Army to participate in HADR exercises of ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting-Plus

BEIJING, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) will send army troops to Yogyakarta, Indonesia, to participate in the live exercises held by the Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) Experts' Working Group (EWG) of the ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting-Plus (ADMM-Plus) from Oct. 14 to 21, a Chinese defense spokesperson said on Friday.

The exercises will be organized in the form of mixed teams, and will mainly carry out table-top and live exercises on humanitarian relief and disaster reduction in the context of major natural disasters, and conduct academic discussions and exchanges in related fields, Zhang Xiaogang, spokesman for the Ministry of National Defense, said at a press conference.

Since the beginning of this year, the Chinese military has actively implemented the Global Security Initiative, and participated in the ADMM-Plus EWG on Humanitarian Mine Action, peacekeeping and counter-terrorism live exercises, as well as the HADR exercise of Cobra Gold 2023, Zhang said.

The moves have continuously deepened the pragmatic cooperation under the ADMM-Plus mechanism, and reinforced the capabilities to cope with security threats and jointly maintain regional peace and stability, Zhang added.