SCO countries hold anti-terror drills with member states in China

Beijing, Jul 24 (PTI) Security officials from the member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) held a joint anti-terrorism drill in China focussing on live drills and specialised operations such as the “eradication of terrorist groups,” China’s Ministry of Public Security has said.

The ‘Interaction-2024′ joint counter-terrorism exercises were held recently in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the Ministry said.

“The exercise marks the first time the relevant agencies from all SCO member states have participated in a joint counter-terrorism live drill,” state-run Xinhua news agency reported on Tuesday.

A small Indian delegation took part in the drill.

Since terrorist threats often spill over to other countries and flow around the globe, the latest large-scale SCO exercise was held to enhance the member states’ capabilities and interoperability in joint anti-terrorism operations, Global Times report said.

The latest exercise has established a new model for joint live drills by relevant agencies and enhanced the joint operational capabilities of the SCO member states’ authorities, the Ministry of Public Security said, adding, in response to significant terrorist threats, the exercise included specialized operations such as “the eradication of terrorist groups.”

Photos released by the state-run media showed that soldiers and police officers fully armed with assault rifles, pistols, and riot shields launching an assault – some via armoured and all-terrain vehicles and some via helicopter with aerial drones and robot dogs – also deployed in the exercise.

Representatives from SCO member states, the SCO Secretariat, and the Executive Committee of the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure observed the exercise.

The Beijing-based SCO has emerged as one of the largest trans-regional international organisations focussing on deepening security-related cooperation with its Regional Anti-Terrorism Structure (RATS), which specifically deals with issues relating to security and defence.

Earlier this month, Belarus became the 10th official member state of the SCO that already has China, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

The SCO member states have a long history of effective cooperation in counter-terrorism. All the previously held anti-terrorism exercises were bilateral or multilateral but did not feature all member states, Li Wei, a research fellow and security expert from the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, told the Global Times.

The latest drill reflected that all SCO member states share a common understanding toward the threats posed by terrorism, Li said.

Countries in Central, South and West Asia are all facing terrorist threats of various sources, and Russia just suffered from a concert hall terrorist attack in Moscow in March, Li said, noting that China also faces potential terrorist threats, and a resurgence of terrorist activities have been observed also in other parts of the world such as Southeast Asia, Africa, Europe and Americas.