With the approval of the State Council and the Central Military
Commission, an assistant group comprising 14 mine clearance experts
left Beijing for Eritrea on September 1 to conduct a four-month
humanitarian assistance program in mine clearance. This is the
first time for the Chinese military to conduct assistance in mine
clearance overseas, according to the
People's Liberation Army
Daily.
Since China joined in the newly amended Landmine Protocol in 1998,
the Chinese government and military have been active in carrying
out humanitarian assistance in mine clearance by various forms,
including contributing money to UN Voluntary Trust Fund for
Assistance in Mine Clearance and donating mine detection and
clearance equipment to mine-affected countries, as well as holding
international mine clearance training courses. In order to support
the international humanitarian assistance, as well as broaden
methods and channels of assistance, the Chinese government has
organized this new activity in mine clearance.
It
is reported that the 14 experts who left for Eritrea are scientific
research personnel who have long been engaged in the research and
training in regard to landmine handling, as well as leading
technicians who have taken part in large scale mine clearance along
the border of southwest China's Yunnan Province. They have taken
the advanced mine clearance equipment made in China to Eritrea and
will train a batch of local mine clearance professionals and give
them instructions on the practical mine clearance operation.
(china.org.cn by Wang Qian, September 6, 2002)