国际英语新闻：German troops enter France, symbol of "deep friendship"

BERLIN, Dec. 10 (Xinhua) -- A battalion of German combat troops is formally stationed in eastern border of France on Friday, a gesture that showed the two European powers would never clash with guns and bullets.

French Defense Minister Alain Juppe and his German counterpart Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg reviewed the battalion, the first German combat troop who set foot on French soil since World War Two. Those German soldiers are stationed in a military base located in Illkirch-Graffenstaden, near Strasbourg, as part of the French-German Brigade. The force is to consist of some 600 German soldiers, while some of them have been sent into France since April.

As an international force, the working language is English, the French defense ministry said earlier. French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel initiated the historic move in 2009. On Friday, the two leaders applauded the first operation of the troops when holding a regular meeting at German southwestern city of Freiburg.

"Today we can say German soldiers are welcome in French, after the crimes Germany was guilty of during the Nazi times, which is a very powerful symbol that indicates our cooperation," Merkel told reporters after their talks.

"It is an honor for us to receive German soldiers in a peaceful context on the French Republic's territory," Sarkozy said. "The arrival of German soldiers on our territory ... is a new sign of our deep friendship."

The French-German Brigade was established in 1989, and two French regiments have been stationed in southwestern Germany since that time. However, there were no German combat soldiers in the 6, 000-strong troops until this year.

Sarkozy said he wanted to see a more balanced troop "between the two sovereign nations, two countries at peace, two countries that founded Europe", referring to French-German joint efforts on establishing European Coal and Steel Community in 1950s, the predecessor of the European Union.