The naval fleet of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, composed
of a missile destroyer named "Qingdao" and a comprehensive depot
ship named "Taicang", arrived Thursday morning in Changi port of
Singapore to start the 3-day visit.
This is also the first visit to Singapore called by PLA fleet.
On
their arrival, the task group members were greeted by Chinese
Ambassador to Singapore Zhang Jiuhuan, Deputy Commander of the
Fleet of the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN), Tan kai Hoe, and
other representatives from the RSN.
Speaking at a brief welcome ceremony at the port, Ding Yiping said
that this is the first time that Chinese PLA Navy ships made a
visit to Singapore and this is also a return visit to the two
visits to China by RSN ships.
He
said that the visit is aimed at deepening mutual understanding,
boosting mutual trust, promoting mutual exchanges and strengthening
friendship between the peoples and armies of China and
Singapore.
During the visit, Ding will meet with defense leaders and
high-ranking officers of Singapore, and sailors of the two sides
will hold a number of exchange programs and sports
competitions.
The task force will also invite representatives from the Singapore
military as well as the public to visit the two Chinese naval
ships.
Round-the-World Voyage
The fleet will visit many countries including Singapore, Egypt,
Turkey, Ukraine, Greece, Portugal, Brazil, Ecuador, and Peru, the
first round-the-world voyage in Chinese Naval history.
Led by Ding Yiping, Commander of the North China Sea Fleet, the
vessels will cross the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic Oceans.
The warships, which have over 500 crew members, were designed and
made in China, and have already paid visits to foreign
countries.
Experts say that the naval vessels, symbolizing a nation's naval
power and industrial strength, are increasingly shouldering the
task of promoting contact with the military of other nations.
The exchange of visits between naval vessels, dubbed as "
handshaking between oceans," has become one of the most dynamic
ways to promote international military contact. As China continues
to open itself to the outside world, the transparency of its navy
has also increased.
Other PLA naval vessels have, during their 15 goodwill voyages
overseas in recent years, called at more than 30 ports in over 20
countries, including the United States, Russia, Canada and
Australia. They reached the continent of Africa in 2000 and Europe
in 2001. A PLA fleet ended its first tour of the Republic of Korea
(ROK) early this month and called at ports of Pakistan and India
not long ago.
PLA naval fleet voyages to other countries date back 1985 when a
missile destroyer and a supply ship visited Pakistan, Sri Lanka and
Bangladesh, marking the Chinese navy's debut in the international
arena and opening up a new route of friendship on the Indian
Ocean.
China's flotilla will continue promoting friendship with the rest
of the world. They are expected to visit Britain, France and
Australia successively later this year at the invitations of the
above three countries.
( May 24, 2002)