DR NG VISITS SINGAPORE-CHINA BILATERAL ARMY EXERCISE

To kick-start his seven-day official trip to China, Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen, together with Commander Nanjing Military Region General (GEN) Cai Yingting, visited Exercise Cooperation 2014 held in Nanjing on 9 Nov.

Dr Ng witnessed a combined company-level infantry live firing between the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) and the People's Liberation Army (PLA) - supported by tanks - that was also the culmination of the nine-day exercise. He also attended the closing ceremony co-officiated by Brigadier-General (BG) Lim Hock Yu, Chief of Staff - General Staff, and Deputy Commander Nanjing Military Region Lieutenant-General You Haitao.

Speaking after the ceremony, Dr Ng noted that the exercise has strengthened defence ties: "There are very few things that forge closer ties than charging up the hill together, sleeping in the same barracks and our solders say this is a very good experience and they build very good military-to-military ties, close military-to-military ties."

Reaffirming the exercise as a good platform for personnel of the two armed forces to interact and better understand each other, GEN Cai added: "To me, it is of the greatest significance that by seeding friendship in the hearts of our officers and men, they can be the advancers and successors of this friendship between the two militaries and even the two countries."

Conducted from 1 to 9 Nov, Exercise Cooperation 2014 is the third bilateral training exercise between the SAF and the PLA and involved about 70 personnel each from the two militaries. The previous two exercises focused on non-conventional counter-terrorism scenarios. This year, the exercise evolved to include conventional infantry scenarios, underscoring the warm and growing defence relations between the two armed forces.