A team of Chinese specialists on Wednesday handed landmine clearance equipment to Thai army, unveiling a three-month training course for Thai personnel.

"The aid to Thailand is one of China's contribution to international humanitarian de-mining efforts," said Senior Colonel An Zuoshan, Defence Attache of Chinese Embassy in Thailand.

An said China is ready to help neighboring countries eliminate landmine-related human concerns and improve stability along border areas so as to promote local economic development.

Besides the equipment including detection and clearance devices, the Chinese government also sent ten de-mining specialists to help train Thailand's personnel.

The specialists all have rich experience in clearing landmines and training personnel, said Qian Gong, head of the Chinese Defense Delegation overseeing the training project.

Most specialists in the team worked four months in Eritrea in Africa in 2002, training local personnel and joining their mine clearance mission.

"Their skills and the property of the donated equipment are the best for mine clearance," Qian told Xinhua.

In the following three months, the Chinese specialists will give six-week classroom training to Thai personnel and spend the other six weeks joining Thailand's mine clearance on the Thai- Cambodian border.

China has been actively taking part in international de-mining assistance programs in recent years. In 2002 and 2003, China sent two groups of de-mining experts to Eritrea for on-site training and donated mine-clearance equipment to the country.

In 2001, China donated detection and clearance equipment worth of 1.26 million US dollars to affected countries including Angola, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Mozambique.

It's the first time that China sent expertise to Asian countries, said An.

The effort is hailed as a breakthrough in the Thai-Chinese military cooperation and believed to enrich the two countries' friendly relations, said Major General Udomsak Demongkon, president of the Thailand Mine Action Center.

China in 1998 acceded to the amended Landmine Protocol of the Convention of Certain Conventional Weapons, which struck the right balance between the humanitarian concerns and sovereign states' need for self defense.

Source: Xinhua