China to enhance demining cooperation with relevant region, countries: FM spokeswoman

China will strengthen demining cooperation with relevant region and countries to free more area of the world from the threat of landmines, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said in Beijing on Monday.

Mao made the remarks at a regular press conference in response to a question about the recent Leaders' Meetings on East Asia Cooperation in Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia, which officially included demining cooperation into the list of cooperation initiatives.

"Landmines and explosive remnants of war are still threatening regional peace and civilians' lives, becoming obstacles to global sustainable development. In February of this year, the Chinese government released the Global Security Initiative Concept Paper, in which demining cooperation and assistance was listed as one of the priorities of cooperation," said the spokeswoman.

"Currently, several countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (cms) including Cambodia and Laos are still not completely freed from the threat of landmines. As a good neighbor, good brother and good partner of the cms, China has been providing demining assistance to relevant cms countries. On Sept 6, a Chinese task force arrived in Cambodia to participate in the 'Pure Homeland-2023' multinational joint mine-clearing operation," said Mao.

"On Sept 7, the second regional high-level meeting on mine-clearing issue of the cms was successfully held in Nanjing, in which China and the cms signed an agreement on demining assistance and cooperation. On Sept 8, China completed a training session on mine-clearance for Cambodia and Laos in Nanjing. All these were the latest measures taken by China to implement the outcomes of the Leaders' Meetings on East Asia Cooperation," said Mao.

"China will further uphold the vision of a community with a shared future for mankind, and strengthen demining cooperation with relevant region and countries to free the world from the threat of landmines on a larger scale," the spokeswoman added.