China's naval taskforce returns home after visiting U.S., Australia and New Zealand

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QINGDAO, November 4 (ChinaMil) -- The taskforce of the Navy of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLAN) which is composed of the guided missile destroyer "Qingdao", the guided missile frigate "Linyi" and the comprehensive supply ship "Hongze Lake" of the North China Sea Fleet of the PLAN returned to a naval port in Qingdao in east China's Shandong province on the morning of November 3, 2013 after wrapping up its goodwill visit to the United States, Australia and New Zealand.

Xu Hongmeng, deputy commander of the PLAN, greeted the taskforce at the dock on behalf of Wu Shengli, member of the Central Military Commission (CMC) `and commander of the PLAN, and Liu Xiaojiang, political commissar of the PLAN.

The visit to the U.S., Australia and New Zealand is an important military and diplomatic activity organized by the CMC, the PLA general headquarters/departments and the PLAN based on China's strategic interests.

The taskforce left Qingdao on August 20, and sailed 19,000 nautical miles in 76 days. It crossed six time zones, and passed through the equator and the International Date Line twice respectively.

The taskforce visited the Pearl Harbor in Hawaii of the U.S., the Port of Newcastle in Australia and the Port of Auckland in New Zealand successively.

The taskforce held a maritime joint search-and-rescue exercise with the U.S. Navy, and took part in an actual-troop maritime security exercise under the mechanism of the ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting Plus (ADMM-Plus), and participated in an international maritime parade celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Australian Navy's first fleet entry into the Sydney Harbor in 1913.

During the visit, the "Qingdao" ship held three deck receptions, and Chinese and foreign officers and men visited each other's warships. The warships of the Chinese taskforce were opened for five times to a total of 20,000-odd local residents, overseas Chinese and Chinese nationals.

On its way home, the "Qingdao" ship and the "Linyi" ship conducted an actual-troop confrontation drill with a taskforce of the PLAN North China Sea Fleet which participated in the actual-troop exercise codenamed "Maneuver 5".

• PLA naval taskforce leaves New Zealand for China
• Chinese naval taskforce sails across equator
• PLAN taskforce enters Western Pacific for training
• Chinese naval taskforce back to South China Sea

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