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That’s one way to have the military forces of China, the United States and Australia get along. Read more

That’s one way to have the military forces of China, the United States and Australia get along.

Thirty service members from the three countries, including five Schofield Barracks soldiers, have to work together to survive in the Australian Outback without any food, water or shelter during Exercise Kowari 2016.

The Australian Defense Force is hosting the trilateral survival training exchange, which started Saturday in the Northern Territory and will run to Friday. Ten participants each from the U.S. Marines and Army, the Australian Army and the People’s Liberation Army are being mixed into teams with members from each country.

The first phase included team-building events such as tug of war and catching a falling comrade who topples over backward, to establish trust.

“This is teamwork in a fun fashion, but when it’s more of, let’s get food, or, how are we going to build a shelter when we’re tired and hungry, (it) is going to be a pretty awesome experience,” 2nd Lt. Sara Vagie, a fire support officer with the 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry, in Hawaii, said in an Australian defense video.

The schedule involves about two days of reception and team-building followed by 12 days of survival training exercises, said Master Sgt. Pete Mayes, a 25th Infantry Division spokesman. A sixth Schofield soldier was sent as an observer.

The “mil-to-mil” engagements between China and the United States are seen as important by both countries, as demonstrated during recent Rim of the Pacific exercises off Hawaii and with leader visits to China occurring at the same time that territorial tensions rise in the East and South China seas.

The exchanges are intended to help develop professional and operating relationships to reduce the risk of misunderstanding or miscalculation in the future.

China sent five ships and 1,200 personnel to RIMPAC and participated in deck gun firing and anti-piracy, submarine rescue and ship maneuver exercises with other navies, among other activities.

“The mil-to-mil relationship is an important component of the bilateral relationship between China and the United States,” China Ministry of National Defense spokesman Col. Wu Qian said Aug. 25. “A healthy and stable mil-to-mil relationship is of great significance for the bilateral relationship.”

Adm. Scott Swift, head of U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, and U.S. Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley both visited China in August; the destroyer USS Benfold also stopped there in the first American warship visit to the country after an international tribunal ruled against China’s claims to most of the South China Sea.

The National Defense Authorization Act of 2000 prohibits military-to-military contact with China if that contact would “create a national security risk” due to exposure to operational areas, including advanced combined-arms and joint combat operations.

China has made clear that it wants to be included in “core” training events in future RIMPACs. Wu, China’s defense ministry spokesman, said the National Defense Authorization Act of 2000 prohibition is an “excuse to put limits on China’s participation” in RIMPAC.

“The development of mil-to-mil relationship requires efforts from both sides,” Wu said. “We request the U.S. side to take concrete actions to remove legal obstacles for the development of mil-to-mil relations.”

Wu also told reporters at the press briefing that China “expanded our horizon (at RIMPAC) by getting to know the operational doctrines, training methods and logistical support of other navies.”

Australia has growing defense ties with the United States in the region, and Exercise Kowari 2016 is one small way among many to attempt to further transparency with China’s military.

Among the training the participants received was familiarization with crocodiles and the nonvenomous black-headed python — Northern Territory dwellers that could be encountered during the survival phase.