After two weeks of joint training exercises, China successfully conducted its first cross-border air strike in live-ammunition exercises of the Peace Mission 2010 anti-terror drill on Friday.?

Chinese troops get ready for a live-ammunition exercise during the Peace Mission 2010 anti-terror drill in Matybulak testing ground, Kazakhstan, on Friday. [Wang Jianmin/Xinhua]

Defense ministers from four nations including China and Russia witnessed the drill, the seventh of its kind under the flag of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

Set against the premise of residential areas controlled by terrorists, about 5,000 troops took part in the drill in southern Kazakhstan's Matybulak testing ground, which stretches for 1,600 sq km.

Four H-6 bombers and two J-10 fighter jets, the most advanced aircraft manufactured in China, released bombs of several hundred kilograms. The planes were fueled in the air and guided by Chinese airborne early warning and control aircraft, combat airplanes that combine investigation, communication, command and control functions.

More than 1,600 tanks and armored vehicles, as well as 100 artillery and rocket launchers and about 50 fighter jets and helicopters were involved in the drill.

China sent about 1,000 troops from Beijing Military Area Command, while Russia and Kazakhstan sent roughly 1,000 troops each. Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan both dispatched more than 100 troops.

Experts this week said the drill - the largest joint SCO exercise for three years - will one day counteract NATO, which is eager to spread in that region, Reuters reported. However, Ci Guowei, deputy chief of the drill's Chinese contingent, said that was not the aim of the SCO.

NATO was born during the Cold War, while the SCO is a new regional cooperation organization, he explained, adding: "The SCO is not a military league. Its joint anti-terror drills are not targeted at and will not threaten any nation."

Li Shuyin, an expert on Central Asian and Russian military studies with the People's Liberation Army's Academy of Military Sciences, said China's first cross-border air strike marks a breakthrough in the Chinese air force's attacking capability.

"Such moves have very high demands on the air force's capabilities in control, long-distance delivery and striking precision," she said.

The drill also included the SCO's first nighttime bombing and combat exercises, she said. "It is a new level of cooperation among SCO armed forces."

"Terrorism and the international separatist forces are rampant," said Abibulla Kudaiberbiyev, defense minister of Kyrgyzstan, after the drill. Over 20 military officials were killed in Tajikistan not long ago. This tragedy was evidence of the threat, he said.

For China, the most significant aspect of the moves set in the heart of the Central Asia, Li said, lies with deterring terrorism in that region, "so as to help ensure the grand plan for the development of West China".

Some organizers of the riots in Urumqi, capital of Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, last year are hiding there. At least 197 people were killed and another 1,700 injured in the riots.

Founded in 2001 in Shanghai, the SCO includes China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The Peace Mission 2010 drill will end on Saturday with a joint show of advanced weapons from the five nations involved.