Soldiers participate in a joint anti-terrorist exercise held by China and Kyrgyzstan frontier forces in Kizilsu Kirgiz Prefecture, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, June 27, 2017. The drill, carried out under the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), was witnessed by representatives from Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, all the SCO member countries. Photo: Xinhua/Wang Fei)

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) launched on Thursday a joint online anti-terrorism exercise in China, in which competent authorities of eight SCO member states simulated a complete crackdown against online terrorist propaganda amid rising cybersecurity challenges. 

The exercise held in Xiamen, East China's Fujian Province, set a scenario where an international terrorist organization spread information of terrorism, separatism and extremism through the internet, including instant chat groups and social media platforms, in SCO member states, to recruit new members, gather funds, purchase weapons and plan terror activities, which intensified terror attacks and threatened regional security.

The exercise coordinated competent authorities of each SCO member state, who started investigating cases in their countries, gathering information on the terrorists' organization, member identities and their locations, before launching a concentrated capture mission and cracking down the organizations secret members hiding across SCO member states once for all.

During the drill, cyber anti-terrorist experts sit in front of computers, deploying a variety of technical measures in eight separated "combat zones," each for one member state. If the drill was to be real, these "combat zones" will be thousands of kilometers away, in each member state's territories, sharing  information in real time.

This is the third time such exercise has taken place. The past two editions were held in October 2015 and December 2017.

Dzhumakhon Giyosov, director of the Executive Committee of the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) and the chief commander of the exercise, noted that while the previous two exercises focused on finding out terror propaganda on the internet, the Xiamen-2019 joint went on and had competent authorities of member states take action.

From finding out terror propaganda to thorough investigation, then to locating and capturing those who released them, this exercise is a full-process exercise, which is a great step forward in terms of SCO's anti-terrorism cooperation, Giyosov said.

Giyosov said that the exercise further boosted SCO member states' capabilities to jointly fighting regional terrorist organizations under the coordination of SCO RATS, and has a significant meaning in effectively dealing with the current new challenges.

RATS has become an important pillar of SCO member states when it comes to fighting terrorism, separatism and extremism, said Liu Yuejin, China's anti-terrorism commissioner with the Ministry of Public Security, addressed the exercise.

The exercise is a chance to test the intelligence exchange, operation coordination and technology complement mechanisms between SCO member states, and showed SCO's determination to crackdown online terror activities and safeguard regional security and stability, Liu said.