China to Train Syrian Military: Chinese Defense Minister

Local Editor

China said it will provide the Syrian military with "medical and nursing professional training," urging a political solution to the conflict in the Arab country.

In an apparent move in support of the Syrian government, the Chinese Defense Ministry announced Thursday that the military will provide training for Syrian armed forces on Chinese soil.

"The Chinese military will provide the Syrian side with [sic] medical and nursing professional training," defense ministry spokesman Wu Qian said during a monthly briefing with reporters, adding that the mission is intended "to ease the humanitarian crisis in Syria."

Wu said China had already been engaged in activities meant "to help reduce the humanitarian suffering of the Syrian people" by providing Syrian authorities with medical equipment and medicines.

"China has been pushing for a political solution [sic] of the Syrian conflict and we have always supported the independence of Syria," he said, adding, "For a long period of time, China and Syria have helped each other."

China has been a key supporter of the Syrian government since March 2011, when the conflict began. Beijing had also supported an air campaign by Russia against Takfiri terrorists in Syria, saying it would endorse any initiative that bolsters Syria's territorial integrity.

State media said senior Chinese military official Guan Youfei was in Damascus last week to meet with Syria's defense minister. During the meeting, Guan urged closer military ties with the Syrian government, the report said.

The Chinese Defense Ministry announcement came a couple of days after a harrowing video surfaced showing a four-year-old boy covered in blood and dust after an airstrike in Syria's northwestern city of Aleppo.

China's state broadcaster has questioned the authenticity of the footage. It alleges that the clip may have been faked as part of a Western "propaganda war" against the Syrian government.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team