China’s Defense Ministry defended military cooperation with Tajikistan on Thursday following a report of a sizeable Chinese troop presence at a base in the Central Asian state. Cooperation between the two is “in line with” international law and related resolutions passed by the UN Security Council, said ministry spokesman Ren Guoqiang. However, Ren said there was no Chinese presence in the adjacent Wakhan Corridor belonging to Afghanistan. The statement was in line with earlier denials of any plans to deploy troops to the war-torn nation with which it shares a narrow border, AP reported.