In the recent drill, the soldiers practiced responding to a massive flood.

impediment. But not many words were needed when medical teams jump into action, because they use similar approaches, said Tian Jing, a People’s Liberation Army doctor.

A team of four Chinese and American medics worked on a U.S. soldier lying in the grass. One medic prepared a splint as a nurse inserted an IV needle into the man’s forearm. With a gesture from a Chinese medic, one of his American counterparts helped steady a leg while the splint was attached.

Soldiers stretched ropes across a waterway, affixed the injured in stretchers to the ropes, then pulled them across. Chinese medics said they usually practice on mannequins and that using people added realism.

Participants also gained experience in organizing and deploying assets, said U.S. Army Maj. Valente Perry, who assisted in the aftermath of Haiti’s 2010 earthquake.

“We’ve got to figure out a way to come together, to pool our resources so we’re not just butting heads the whole time,” Perry said. “And so you try to get through that stuff and work through the kinks in exchanges like this.”

Bonnie Glaser, senior adviser for Asia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said that while the U.S. hopes the exercises pave the way for cooperation in a natural disaster, she doesn’t believe there were expectations they would ease bilateral tensions.

“That’s a bridge too far,” she said in an email.