China, Mongolia pledge closer defense ties

BEIJING - Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie on Friday pledged to seek stronger defense ties with Mongolia.

Liang made the pledge in a meeting with Choijamts, a senior official of the Monoglian Defense Ministry, who is leading the Mongolian delegation to Beijing for the sixth defense and security consultations between the two countries.

Liang reviewed China-Mongolia relations in recent years, saying political trust have deepened, economic cooperation have developed and people-to-people exchanges have flourished.

"Our defense relations have been smooth," Liang said, highlighting the high-level visits, defense consultations, personnel training and border defense cooperation.

Liang said China would like to work with Mongolia to expand areas of communication and deepen pragmatic cooperation to ensure the long-term steady growth of bilateral relations.

Choijamts said Mongolia expected to step up defense cooperation with China and boost the growth of military relations.

Earlier Friday, Ma Xiaotian, deputy chief of general staff of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), and Choijamts attended the sixth defense and security consultations between China and Mongolia.

Both sides maintained that it was in the common interests of both countries to maintain regional peace and stability, which defense departments of both countries would make positive efforts to work for.

Both sides reached consensus on deepening military relations, agreeing to maintain high-level visits, hold defense consultations, strengthen border defense cooperation and increase personnel training.