Polish Minister of Defence took part in talks with his Chinese counterpart, General Chang Wanquan. The meetings also involved the Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission, General Fan Changlong. During the meeting, the officials discussed the issues related to the bilateral military cooperation and the growing role of China in the process of maintaining the global stability. Polish Deputy Prime Minister visited China on 29th and 30th July this year.

According to the Xinhua outlet, Minister Siemoniak expressed his will of expanding the Polish cooperation with Beijing, also within the scope of the officer exchange programme. On the other hand, according to the Polish Press Agency, Minister of Defence announced that according to the plans of the Chinese authorities, for the first time in history, Chinese ships are going to visit Poland. Additionally, it has been announced that a series of training exercises for the Chinese officers is going to be carried out.

Currently, the Chinese are realizing a Navy expansion programme, and one of the symptoms of the above initiative is visible in the increased presence of the Chinese Navy’s assets, within the areas located far from the mainland China. Between January and February 2015, an escort group of the Chinese Naval Forces visited Germany and the Netherlands (for the first time in history). At the same time, Beijing is also taking part in a variety of international maritime initiatives, including anti-piracy operations. A Chinese vessel was also involved in the rescue operation, the aim of which was to extract the Polish citizens from the Yemen war-zone.

During his visit to China, Minister Siemoniak also discussed the issues related to the threats caused by the Ukrainian crisis and the activities undertaken by the IS.