Joint Sea 2019: Chinese, Russian marines hold land exercises

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02:06

Now to Qingdao, in eastern China's Shandong Province. The 'Joint Sea 2019' exercises by the Chinese and Russian navies are underway. On Tuesday, marines from both countries conducted land exercises before both fleets head for sea drills later in the week. CGTN reporter Zheng Yibing has the details.

Marines in action. Teams from China and Russia looking to sharpen their military skills in competition.

ZHENG YIBING QINGDAO, SHANDONG PROVINCE "Shooting and negotiating difficult obstacles are definitely exercises that both navies want more practice in."

Tuesday's shooting competition tested both navies' land combat capabilities. It opened this year's "Joint Sea" operations. And the 400-meter-long obstacle course tested the strength of the teams. After some fierce and fair competition, the Chinese marines ultimately won. But they knew they had home-field advantage.

CHINESE MARINE "Russian marines are not familiar with the training ground here. But from their performance, we can see their individual quality is definitely very good."

RUSSIAN MARINE "Chinese soldiers did a good job, particularly in shooting. I hope the next time we can invite them to Russia, and hope we can perform like them."

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. Zheng Yibing, CGTN, Qingdao, Shandong Province.