SCO members to stage anti-terror drill in China

The member countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) will stage an anti-terrorism military drill in China from August 24 to 29, a Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman said on Thursday.

Code-named "Peace Mission 2014",the joint drill will take place at the Zhurihe training base in Inner Mongolia, Yang Yujun told a monthly press briefing.

Founded in Shanghai in 2001, the SCO groups China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. It has Afghanistan, India, Iran, Mongolia and Pakistan as observers and Belarus, Turkey and Sri Lanka as dialogue partners.

The exercise will be the fifth multinational drill under the SCO framework and will aim at deterring the "three evil forces" of terrorism, separatism and extremism, safeguarding regional peace and stability and improving the militaries' coordinated ability to fight terrorism, Yang said.

The exercise will not target any third party, he added.

On Russia's "Aviation Dart 2014" international aviators' race, Yang said a squad of the Chinese Air Force will take part in the race in late July in a bid to upgrade cooperation between China and Russia and increase experience sharing with aviators from other countries.