Chinese troops head to Hawaii for joint disaster relief exercise with US military
- Humanitarian training highlights one area where the two sides can still cooperate despite tensions over trade war and South China Sea
- US ambassador also insists Chinese students remain welcome in America, but observers stay cautious about overall state of relations
The Chinese and US militaries will take part in a joint disaster relief training exercise in Hawaii this month.
China’s defence ministry said that more than 200 personnel from the People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theatre Command and the United States Army Pacific would take part in the drill that starts on Thursday and runs until November 24.
Similar exercises have taken place every year since 2013 – last year’s was held in the eastern Chinese city of Nanjing – and their continuation represents a rare example of efforts to build bridges between the two sides.
The two countries have also heralded recent cooperation in areas such as the international trade in opioids, but observers said these efforts would not be enough on their own to overcome the tensions caused by the trade war and their mutual suspicions.
While the two militaries are cooperating on the humanitarian drills, China’s growing strategic ambitions in other areas have caused increasing concern.