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China, Australia, New Zealand to hold first joint maritime drill in September |
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17:14, July 09, 2007 |
China, Australia and New Zealand will hold their first-ever joint maritime drill in September near Australia.
The news came out of the talks between Chinese Defense Minister Cao Gangchuan and Australian counterpart Brendan Nelson on Monday.
Nelson said Chinese vessels would visit Australia in September and hold a "search-and-rescue exercise" with Australia and New Zealand.
That will be good to "build trust and increase friendship", he said.
Cao lauded the drill, China''s first multilateral maritime drill, as "a step to show the expansion of our substantive military cooperation".
China has conducted bilateral search-and-rescue drills with countries including Britain, France, Pakistan, India, Australia, Thailand and the United States since 2003.
Nelson is here on his first visit to China since he assumed the post in January 2006.
His visit comes just days after Australia issued a defense policy paper that said "the pace and scope of (China''s) military modernization ... could create misunderstandings and instability in the region".
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