07.09.2009.

Minister of Defense of China visits MoD

Serbian and Chinese Defense Ministers Dragan Sutanovac and General Liang Guanglie met in the House of Guards in Topcider today. In an open and cordial talk, two delegations reached the same conclusion that the cooperation so far has been at a very high level, and this meeting served to establish the pace and course of future cooperation.

The Minister of Defense Dragan Sutanovac thanked the Chinese guests for everything china has been doing at an international level abiding by the humanitarian law and supporting Serbia and its interests in Kosovo and Metohija.

- By protecting Serbia’s legal system in Kosovo we wish to protect the international law and thus even to protect china’s interests. I wish to stress that Serbia is supporting the policy of a unified and indivisible china.

It is my great pleasure to welcome my Chinese colleague Defense Minister of China Guanglie. Since this is the first visit of the Chinese defense minister in the last 25 years, and since the visit has come after the signing of an agreement between Presidents Tadic and Hu Jin Tao, we believe that this is one of the most strategic visits to Serbia in this year. Serbia and China are cherishing traditionally good relations and I ma pleased that we have concluded that the relations between the two countries are excellent.

Sutanovac said that there was much talk about cooperation in the field of defense and that there is still room to enhance this cooperation. In his words, both sides had expressed great interest in cooperation in the fields of military medicine, education and training as well as in the fields of military industry and scientific research,

I have informed the Minister of Defense of China that Serbia has joined the UN mission in Chad recently, and that Serbia has opted for preserving world peace. We are also well aware that China participates in may missions in the world. We alos discussed the possibilities for exchanging experiences in peace operations and I wish to point out that we have had more than 20 SAF officers specializing in Chinese military schools in the previous period while our academy has had a chance to educate another member of the People’s Liberation Army of China as Minister Sutanovac stated.

– He expressed special thanks to his Chinese guests for many donations of the Chinese ministry of defense to SAF.

In his words, special accent was placed in fighting asymmetrical threats, terrorism, fundamentalism, organized crime and other threats which place a state at risk.

- I also take this opportunity to inform you that the delegation of the ministry of Defense of China and of the PLA will be present at the air show to be held on 13 September , which is another signal of successful cooperation.
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The Minister of Defense of China Liang Guanglie said that he had come upon the invitation of the Minister of Defense of the Republic of Serbia and thanked him for his war reception. The talks he had with Minister Sutanovac he called fruitful.

– I take this opportunity to express my gratitude and to commend the Serbian nation stating that even though these two nations are miles apart they are linked by a traditionally god friendship.

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The main purpose of his visit, as Minister Guanglie said, was to promote friendship and cooperation, while also observing the experiences of the Serbian army.

The Chinese guest remarked that the current bilateral cooperation, political situation and international security policy were the main topics for discussion today.

I have proposed three ways to strengthen our cooperation: one is to strengthen the bonds of friendship between the two nations, the second is to continue cooperation at the highest level and the third is to continue cooperation in personnel training”. He added that he had agreed with Minister Sutanovac that cooperation in the field of peace operations should continue as well.

Minister Guanglie was alos received by the President of Serbia Boris Tadic, Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic, Minister of Foreign Vuk Jeremic, which fact bespeaks of the importance of the visits of the Chinese delegation.