China holds multi-country maritime exercise

A Pakistani naval vessel opens to the public as part of activities linked to the 14th annual meeting of the Western Pacific Naval Symposium which kicked off in Qingdao, Shandong province, on April 20. [Photo by Peng Yining/chinadaily.com.cn]

Photos: Navy ships open to the public

No one-on-one meeting between China navy commander, Japan officials

QINGDAO - A multi-country maritime exercise was held off the coast of the eastern Chinese city of Qingdao on Wednesday.

This is the first time for the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy to organize a multilateral maritime exercise.

Nineteen ships, seven helicopters and marine corps from eight countries including China, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Singapore, Indonesia, India, Malaysia and Brunei were organized into three task forces to conduct the exercise dubbed "Maritime Cooperation - 2014."

Focusing on joint search and rescue, the drill included task force communication, formation movement, maritime replenishment supply, joint rescue, joint anti-hijacking and small firearms shooting.

Chinese destroyer Harbin was designated as the command ship and Yang Junfei, deputy chief of the Beihai Fleet, as the exercise commander.

The exercise was aimed at enhancing mutual understanding, trust and friendship among maritime forces and promoting their cooperation in safeguarding maritime security to better respond to emergencies.

Zhang Junshe, a researcher with the PLA's Naval Military Studies Research Institute, said the exercise highlighted responses to non-traditional security threats such as piracy, terrorism and natural disasters which cross borders and no country can handle alone.

He noted the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004, the Philippine typhoon in 2013 and the on-going search for the missing Malaysian airlines MH370, all of which have shown the urgent need for cooperation when dealing with non-traditional security threats.

"The exercise deal with real threats," he said.