Building homes and friendships

Chinese and Malaysian engineering troops held a joint drill on land. The troops were divided into four mixed 50-strong groups, and together they built three houses, a wall and a pavilion. The houses were given to three local veterans.

Located 6 kilometers from a field hospital, one of the houses has three bedrooms and two bathrooms. Huo Shufeng, head of the PLA engineers during the exercise, said it was built brick by brick with the cooperation of the Malaysians.

"Because it was my first drill with Malaysian engineering troops, I was a little worried that communications and cooperation would be a problem," Huo said. "It turned out that we didn't need to speak very much to build a house - we just worked together."