Chinese navy depart for West Pacific training

（Xinhua）  06:56, January 31, 2013  

MISSILE DESTROYER QINGDAO, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- A fleet of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy has set off from a military port in east China's Qingdao City for regular open-sea training in the West Pacific Ocean, military sources revealed on Wednesday.

Departing on Tuesday morning, the fleet comprises three ships -- missile destroyer Qingdao, and missile frigates Yantai and Yancheng -- carrying three helicopters, all from the North China Sea Fleet under the PLA Navy.

During the voyage, the fleet is scheduled to conduct multi-program training sessions in the sea area where China has been carrying out regular patrols, according to the sources.

The training area will include the Yellow, East China and South China seas, the Miyako Strait, the Bashi Channel and the sea area east of Taiwan.

The fleet will carry out more than 20 types of exercises, including maritime confrontation, open-sea mobile combat, law enforcement missions and open-sea naval commanding.

As part of the ongoing open-sea training, the fleet held a four-hour maritime confrontation drill in the Yellow Sea on Tuesday with another PLA Navy fleet which is to depart for escort missions in the sea area off Somali.