A TRAINING vessel of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN), Zhenghe, will be making a stop in Brunei today, starting a four-day goodwill visit to the country.
According to the statement by the Chinese Embassy of in Brunei, the training ship visit to Brunei is to promote mutual understanding and friendship.
With the arrival of Zhenghe, there will be a welcoming ceremony at Jetty Bravo at the Muara Naval Base to receive the vessel today.
The PLA navy training ship will also be open to the public for two hours from 10am on Thursday. Zhenghe first embarked on mid-April from Dalian, Northeast China's Liaoning province, for a round-the-world voyage that saw Zhenghe journey covering a total voyage of 30,000-odd nautical miles (55,560 km) over the next five months and making port calls to 11 countries, including Vietnam, Malaysia, India, Italy, Spain and Canada.
Brunei will be the final stop of Zhenghe five-month global voyage.
According to a report in China.org.cn the vessel has 308 military personnel aboard, including 110 cadets from Dalian Naval Academy.
The vessel, named after the great Chinese navigator Zheng He (1371-1433) who sailed overseas about 600 years ago, is the first oceangoing training ship designed and built by China independently.
The training ship is able to conduct half a globe single-ship voyage without refueling.
Mounted with the satellite navigator, the global positioning system and other advanced facilities, the training ship can afford the midshipmen to conduct training and practice of more than 40 subjects including navigation, observation and communication, mechanics and electricity, weapons, seamanship and medical service.
In the past 25 years, Zhenghe has successfully accomplished more than 200 important missions including midshipmen navigational practice, military drills and outgoing visits and clocked more than 280,000 nautical miles which is equivalent to around the earth for more than 10 laps. Fung Siew Mun
The Brunei Times
(Top) The Chinese PLA Navy training ship, `Zhenghe' , will be making a stop in Brunei today, starting a four-day goodwill visit to the country. Embassy in Brunei Darussalam(Above) Chinese PLA Navy (PLAN) navy cadets training on board the ship 'Zhenghe' which is due to arrive in Brunei today for a four-day goodwill visit to the country. The visit is aimed to promote mutual understanding and friendship between the two countries.Pictures: Courtesy of China Embassy in Brunei Darussalam
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
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