Endurance, agility and discipline - three characteristics China wants its soldiers to possess as it conducts sub-zero training in the northern region bordering Russia.

Chinese soldiers carried out training and exercises - shirtless - in sub-zero temperatures in Heihe, Heilongjiang, mirroring South Korean special forces' intense winter training last January.

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The exposure to freezing temperatures is aimed at increasing soldiers' endurance skills to their limits while maintaining mental and physical toughness.

During the training, soldiers worked with traditional Chinese swords to enhance their dexterity. 

China wants its soldiers to broaden their general combat capabilities and not be limited to the use of firearms.

The exercise also included throwing of snow onto each other to increase their endurance to cold.

The exercises conducted late February come as China increased its military budget by 10 percent. 

This will bring up China's 2015 military allocation to around $145 billion, making the country the world's second-biggest military spender. 

But China is still far behind the United States - the top military spender - whose budget for the armed forces is equivalent to that of the next eight countries combined.

China's military budget increase even beats its economic growth, which to some observers is an indication that China has placed defense at the top of its priority list.

China's military have become increasingly powerful at the time of heightened tensions among its Asian neighbors over maritime and territorial disputes. 

The Philippines as well as Vietnam are among those that have recent diplomatic conflicts with China. 

Defense experts who have been monitoring China's military spending patterns said, the relative increases in budget will most likely go on for another decade or more, as China continues to play a superpower showdown.

Tagswinter training, soldiers, Defense, territorial conflict