Sports diplomacy has become a signature dish on the military-to-military menu of China and the United States.

As part of improved Sino-US military communications, players from the two navies enjoyed soccer, basketball and tug-of-war matches on Thursday at Qingdao, on China's eastern coast.

The US teams came from the visiting US 7th Fleet flagship USS Blue Ridge, which anchored at Qingdao on Tuesday for a visit.