China's Official Newspaper Rebuts US Media Report on Its Jungle Training Intention

3gzylon 2015-08-12

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By Liu Rong (People's Daily Online) 05:32, August 12, 2015

Amazon Military Command members conduct jungle training.

China’s official newspaper Global Times accused the United States of instigating antagonism between China and its neighboring countries on Tuesday, saying that the U.S. media report of China seeking help from Brazil in jungle warfare training was not accurate.

Defense News, which claims to be an independent news source for the world's defense decision-makers, reported Monday that China has requested the Brazilian army to provide trainers and experterts to assist its jungle warfare training program. It has not been revealed as to when the cooperation will take place and how many Brazilian trainers will be involved.

Col. Alcimar Marques de Araújo Martins, commander of the Jungle Warfare Training Center (Centro de Instru?ao de Guerra na Selva, or CIGS) in Brazil, was quoted as saying that China originally arranged to send a group of officers and NCOs to be trained at the center, but they canceled their attendance and instead asked the center to send its training experts to China.

The report implied that China’s jungle training program might be targeted at its neighboring countries. “While it is not clear why the Chinese are expanding their jungle training operations, the country does have long, jungle-covered borders with several neighbors,” said the report.

Global Times refuted such a speculation, quoting an unidentified Chinese military expert as saying that the analysis by Defense News was not accurate.

China is always dedicated to maintaining regional peace and stability. China’s military cooperation with foreign countries is aimed at increasing mutual trust, its military training efficiency and its ability to respond to various threats. Therefore, the training cooperation does not target any particular country and has nothing to do with regional situation, the expert told Global Times.

The expert also said that the Jungle Warfare Training Center has helped the Brazilian government in its crackdown on organized crimes in the Amazon jungle areas over the years, and the center will help China meet similar needs.

There is an unstable place called “Golden Triangle” near China’s southwestern border areas, and the rampant drug-trafficking activities there have always been a headache to China. Such organized crimes have caused damage to our people over the years, said the expert.

China is thus seeking help from Brazil in jungle warfare training to meet needs for safeguarding the security of its citizens, according to the expert.

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