BEIJING, Aug 30 (INP): China on Thursday denied reports that it plans to deploy troops to Afghanistan, saying the neighbors are engaged merely in “normal military and security cooperation.” Defense Ministry spokesman Col. Wu Qian said some media’s reports that hundreds of People’s Liberation Army soldiers are to man a base in eastern Afghanistan are “simply not true.” China shares a narrow border with Afghanistan in the remote Wakhan corridor region and is wary of the country’s violence and chronic instability overflowing into its restless Xinjiang region, Wu Qian said while responding to a question during his monthly briefing held here. However, Wu said China, like other nations, is helping Afghanistan increase its defense capabilities, particularly in the area of counter-terrorism. While rejecting reports of building a base in Afghanistan, spokesman further China was supporting Afghanistan’s defence and counter-terrorism efforts. He said “China and the international community are all supporting Afghanistan to strengthen its defence and counterterrorism building efforts.” The spokesman said that at present, both the countries were in communication and coordination about the relevant matter. “China is willing to continue working hard with Afghanistan to jointly protect both countries and regional security and stability,” Wu said. Earlier, Chinese foreign ministry’s spokesperson had also rejected a media report that China had begun to build a military training camp in the Wakhan corridor in Afghanistan. “It is understood that the relevant reports are not true,” the spokesperson Hua Chunying told reporters on Wednesday. The corridor is a narrow strip of inhospitable and barely accessible land extending about 350km (220 miles) from the northern Afghan province of Badakhshan to China’s region of Xinjiang.