China rules out a joint military exercise with DPRK; The 3rd China-Singapore Defense Policy Dialogue held in Beijing; Argentina and Germany sign important agreements with China; The first high level strategic dialogue between China and Britain held;
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    • China has ruled out the possibility of holding a joint military exercise with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) as a countermeasure to forthcoming drills by the United States and the Republic of Korea (ROK). Dismissing any such possibility, Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said on Thursday that there was no single country or military alliance that could solve issues related to regional security. Issues related to regional security need collective efforts.1

    The 3rd China-Singapore Defense Policy Dialogue was held in Beijing last week. Gen. Ma Xiaotian, deputy chief of general staff of the Chinese PLA and Chiang Chie Foo, Permanent Secretary of Singapore's Ministry of Defense co-chaired this dialogue. The two sides discussed the issues related to regional security and relationships between them and their two militaries.2

    During the Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner’s first state visit to China, the two countries signed 12 agreements on Tuesday covering the areas such as transportation infrastructure, fishery, energy, plant quarantine, freight rail line etc.3 However, the development of transportation infrastructure in Argentina figured prominently in these agreements. In fact, the two countries signed railway deals totaling $10 billion, which cover 10 railway projects in which China will sell railway technology to Argentina and invest in electrification projects of Argentinean railway.4

    China and Germany also signed ten cooperation agreements on Friday during the visit of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. These agreements range from green energy, culture to the establishment of joint venture on truck and lorry production. It also includes a financial cooperation agreement which involves 124 million Euros of green fund. This financial cooperation is intended to encourage emission reduction and energy saving of enterprises.5

    However, China and Britain held their first high level strategic dialogue on Wednesday. Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo and British Foreign Secretary William Hague co-chaired this dialogue. Earlier, the two countries had a mechanism of strategic dialogues at the level of vice foreign ministers, which was later elevated to the present higher level during former British Foreign Secretary David Miliband’s visit to China in March.6 Later on the same day, Foreign Secretary Hague and his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi held talks. Incidentally, after this meeting Yang Jiechi, at a press briefing, urged countries not support Tibetan separatists and called Tibet as China’s internal matter.7

    Meanwhile, reports noted that the 6th Chinese naval escort taskforce successfully repulsed some suspected pirate vessels in the waters to the west estuary of the Gulf of Aden on July 18, 2010 and safely escorted all of the 14 merchant ships which could have become targets of the pirates.8 In another development, Ma Jian, commandant of the Air Force Command College of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), recently said that joint training programmes of Chinese and foreign forces had proved very productive and yielded rich results. In specific terms, such programmes have proved helpful in increasing mutual understanding of servicemen of different backgrounds through communication and broadened their vision.9

    In other developments, the 220 peacekeepers of the first echelon of the 7th Chinese peacekeeping troops have left for Sudan to replace the 6th Chinese peacekeeping troops deployed in the mission area of the United Nations Mission in Sudan since last October.10

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