By Yang Shuangquan and Luo Shidong
LEBANON, July 10 (ChinaMil) -- The Chinese peacekeeping troops to Lebanon greeted a French peacekeeping combat engineer detachment at a mine clearance and explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) operation site on Friday. The engineers from both sides shared their experience on mine clearance and EOD.
This exchange tour was arranged at the request of the French side, mainly focusing on teaching-based exchanges on field work, equipment explanation, and experience sharing. Its goal was to introduce the Chinese peacekeepers' experiences and practices in mine clearance and EOD to the French peacekeepers, enhance mutual understanding between the two militaries, and strengthen cooperation of the two peacekeeping detachments in South Lebanon.
During the exchange, 30-odd Chinese peacekeepers gave mine-clearance-themed demonstrations to their French peers on such subjects as equipment static display, standing operating procedures, mine detector debugging, signal source location, and so forth.
In addition, the Chinese mine clearance personnel also gave in-situ presentations and onsite demonstrations to the French counterpart by simulating the real minefield layout in a safe zone.
Many French peacekeepers put on protective suits and tried using mine detectors and experiencing the efficiency and safety of Chinese-style mine clearance operations. At the end of the activity, the two sides also held a competition on signal source calibration.
After the exchange, captain of the French peacekeeping combat engineer detachment to Lebanon said to the Chinese peacekeepers, “Your expertise impresses all of us. It’s our honor to get to know your work and experience and learn from you. We are very grateful.”
Zhang Lei, a mine clearance platoon leader of the Chinese side, also expressed his feeling, "Through the exchange, I can feel that the Chinese military's mine clearance and EOD efforts in South Lebanon are highly recognized by foreign militaries."
