Chinese, Kazakhstan Inspect Border Areas

China and Kazakhstan have lately made inspections of military facilities and garrisons on each other's border areas, the Kazakhstan Defense Ministry announced on July 17.

"The inspections were conducted in a friendly atmosphere of mutual respect and cooperation," said the Ministry.

The inspections were conducted in line with agreements between the two countries, namely the Agreement on Confidence-Building in the Military Field in Border Areas signed in 1996 and the Agreement on the Reduction of Military Forces in the Border Areas signed in 1997.

The purpose of the inspections was to check whether the numbers of the military equipment and soldiers coincide with the information exchanged between the two countries so that further mutual trust and cooperation could be established.

A Kazakhstan military delegation reportedly entered China from the Helgus boundary port and inspected a frontier regiment near Kuqa, while a Chinese delegation inspected a frontier reconnaissance battalion stationed in Zharkent after entering Kazakhstan via Helgus.

The two countries began mutual inspections of military forces on their border areas in 2000.

( July 18, 2002)