Marines with the flotilla conducted a 20-minute landing
training on Wednesday. The training "attained its anticipated objectives",
according to Hu Dehai, a deputy brigade commander.
Commander of the Nanhai Fleet Jiang Weilie, who also serves as the
flotilla's commander, landed on the islands to greet the garrison
troops.
The patrol and landing operations fall within the flotilla's annual
schedule that include combat drills in the South China Sea, the West
Pacific Ocean and the east Indian Ocean.
The three-ship flotilla, consisting of Type 071 amphibious landing
craft Changbaishan and destroyers Wuhan (Type
052B) and Haikou (Type 052C), left from a military port in
south China's Hainan Province on Monday.
Changbaishan is the country's largest landing ship by gross tonnage
and is equipped with an advanced weapons system. Both Wuhan and Haikou
have experience of major drills and escort missions in the Gulf of
Aden.
Three Z-8 helicopters and a company of marines are stationed aboard
the ships.
The Paracel Islands, also called Xisha Islands in Chinese and Hoàng
Sa Islands in Vietnamese, is a group of islands whose sovereignty
is disputed among the People's Republic of China, the Republic of
China and Vietnam.
