By Wang Weidong and Lin Duo

BEIJING, Aug. 9 -- The International Army Games (IAG) 2021 will be held from August 22 to September 4 as scheduled. In the past few days, the participating teams from the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) have set off to Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Iran and other countries respectively.

On August 7, the Chinese participants to join the "Polaris" Special Operations Teams event of the IAG 2021 flew to Minsk, Belarus by an Air Force transport aircraft, together with their equipment. This marks the first time for the Chinese military to get involved in the "Polaris" Special Operations Teams event.

On August 8, the Chinese participating troops from the PLA joint logistic support force (JLSF) arrived in Russia to participate in the “Masters of Armored Vehicles” and "Military Rally “events of the IAG 2021. It is learned that this is the first time for the PLA JLSF to send a team to participate in an international military game since its establishment.

The "Polaris" Special Operations Teams event covers 29 competition events such as secret infiltration, combat implementation, and transfer and evacuation, aiming to comprehensively test and improve the water, land, and air penetration capabilities of the participants. The Chinese participating team is composed of reconnaissance and special operations troops selected from a special operations brigade of the PLA 74th Group Army.

The “Masters of Armored Vehicles” event mainly includes the cycling race, vehicle repairing contest, captain contest, and relay race with 5 types of vehicles involved. The "Military Rally" event includes the cycling race, chasing race, fire race, team race and field cooking competition, in which the Chinese participants will compete with counterparts from other 7 countries including Russia.

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