Police units of Serbia and China demonstrate anti-terrorist capabilities in Smederevo, Serbia on Nov. 28, 2019. Serbian and Chinese special police units for the first time held a joint anti-terror drill on Thursday in Smederevo, at the steel plant owned by Chinese HBIS Group Serbia Iron & Steel. (Photo by Nemanja Cabric/Xinhua)
SMEDEREVO, Serbia, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- Serbian and Chinese special police units for the first time held a joint anti-terror drill on Thursday in Smederevo, at the steel plant owned by Chinese HBIS Group Serbia Iron & Steel.
The joint demonstration exercise was observed here by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, Chinese Ambassador to Serbia Chen Bo, as well as government and security officials of the two countries.
The scenario staged a crisis situation at the HBIS Serbia in Smederevo, where a group of armed terrorists entered one of plant's facilities and taken hostages.
The "cavalry" of 180 police members consisting of Serbian special anti-terrorism unit, gendarmery, helicopter unit, negotiation team and the crime police directorate as well as Chinese special police units from central China's Henan Province arrived by 20 various vehicles and three helicopters to overcome terrorists and release hostages.
After the exercise, Serbian Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic thanked Chinese police for engaging in cooperation with Serbian colleagues, sharing experiences and contributing to a higher level of training.
"This is the first exercise of its kind between Serbian Interior Ministry and the Ministry of Public Security of China, which aimed to show the high level of training of these units and their ability to cooperate on some of the most complex tasks," Stefanovic said.
He said that the cooperation between the relevant ministries of Serbia and China in charge of internal affairs and public security has proven successful so far, and announced even deeper ties.
"We have a great cooperation with the Ministry of Public Security of China, in the fields of fight against organized crime, terrorism and drug trafficking. Our task is to deepen our cooperation with China because it is our strategic partner and much more than that -- it is a friendly and sisterly country," Stefanovic added.
