Foreign military leaders and observers who attended the "Iron Fist-2004" military exercise Saturday in Zhengzhou congratulated China on the success of the exercise.

The exercise, with actual troops and live ammunition, was carried out by a reinforced mechanized infantry division at the Queshan Training Base of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Jinan Military Area Command Saturday morning.

The 60 observing foreign officers are from 16 countries, including Brunei, the Philippines, Tajikistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Russia, Thailand, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.

It is the first time for the PLA to invite so many high-ranking foreign military officers to watch a Chinese military exercise. This is also the largest scale military exercise attended by foreigner observers.

"The exercise is very interesting and impressive," said Shahid Siddiq Tirmizey, director general of the Joint Staff of the Pakistani army. He said the exercise demonstrated the advanced arms and professional training of the Chinese army. He said Pakistan will cooperate with the Chinese military more in the future.

Haji Awang Halbi Bin Haji MD Yussof, commander of the Brunei armed forces, also said he appreciated the advanced arms training of the Chinese forces. He said this exercise is a concrete step toward the transparency of China's national defense. Also, it is a good chance to show the achievements of the army modernization construction.

Halbi said he is very honored to be invited to watch the exercise, noting that it will promote military exchanges and cooperation between Brunei and China.

Zin Yaw, commander of the Air Force Base of the Myanmar military, said the exercise was very successful. At present, he is receiving air force training in China. He said Myanmar and China are exchanging officers to help raise the level of military training in both countries.

Midintsev, section head of the General Operations Bureau of the Russian General Staff, said the commanders and soldiers completed the exercise successfully despite bad weather and difficult terrain.