China, Australia begin humanitarian assistance, disaster relief exercises

CHENGDU / BEIJING - China and Australia started their first joint humanitarian assistance and disaster relief exercise on Monday.

The four-day exercise was conducted at a training base outside the city of Chengdu, capital of Southwest China's Sichuan province. The site is about two hours drive from Beichuan, which was damaged by the massive Wenchuan earthquake that killed tens of thousands of people on May 12, 2008.

A total of 33 Chinese soldiers and 16 Australian servicemen took part in the exercise, together with a helicopter and specialized disaster relief vehicles.