The "Joint Sea-2019" exercise by the Chinese and Russian navies are underway in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province. On Tuesday, marines from both countries conducted land exercises before both fleets head for sea drills later in the week.
Teams from China and Russia are looking to sharpen their military skills in competition.
Shooting and negotiating difficult obstacles are definitely exercises that both navies want more practice in.
Tuesday's shooting competition tested the land combat capabilities of both navies. The competition opened this year's “Joint Sea” operations, as the 400-meter-long obstacle course tested the strength of the teams.
After fierce competition, the Chinese marines ultimately won. But they knew they had the home-field advantage.
A Chinese soldier said that Russian marines are not familiar with the training ground here.
“But from their performance, we can see their individual quality is definitely very good,” he commented.
A Russian marine praised Chinese soldiers' performances, particularly in shooting.
“I hope the next time we can invite them to Russia, and hope we can perform like them,” he said.
When the competition was over, both teams of marines came together for sea drills. They conducted exercises to counter piracy, and submarine rescue operations.
All these are in preparation for their joint missions out at sea from Thursday to Saturday.
