The Chinese Navy frigate Huangshan leaves Valletta's Grand Harbour, March 30, 2013. (Photo : REUTERS)
The 18th Chinese naval escort fleet commenced a four-day goodwill visit to Greece on Monday, arriving at the port of Piraeus.
Rear Admiral Zhang Chuanshu, the Fleet Commander and the Deputy Chief of Staff of the South China Sea fleet, is scheduled to meet Greek President Karolos Papoulias and the Hellenic Navy Chief of Staff Vice Admiral Evangelos Apostolakis.
After the visit, the Chinese fleet will embark on a joint military drill with the Hellenic Navy before setting sail on the voyage home.
The three vessels in the escort consisting of the missle frigate Yun Cheng, amphibious landing ship Chang Baishan and the supply ship Chao Hu set off from China in Aug. 2014.
The vessels have 800 sailors on board who have "blue sea" capability.
Greece is the final stop of the fleet's five-nation European tour after visiting Britain, Germany, the Netherlands and France.
During the visits, the sailors checked out the warships from these countries while opening the Chinese ships to the public.There were exchanges in anti-piracy and escort experiences and the holding of sports matches, mainly in basketball and badminton.
Although not mentioned in any official Chinese naval strategy document, diplomacy is an important function of China's navy.
The Chinese fleet is also scheduled to brief on their escort mission in the Gulf of Aden and the waters off Somalia.
Since Dec. 2008, 19 Escort Task Groups have been sent by the Chinese Navy to those aforementioned areas and offered protection to nearly 6,000 ships.
