10 November 2017 02:00 pm
The Ship Qi Jiguang arrived in Sri Lanka as a part of its multinational mission with foreign countries in 2017, a plan which was approved by the Chinese Central Military Commission.
According to the plan, in combination with ocean-going practice ,Qi Jiguang Ship visited Oman, Portugal, Italy and would depart for Thailand on November 14.
The naval training ship was commissioned only in February this year subordinate to Dalian Naval Academy. The ship is named after the hero Qi Jiguang of Ming Dynasty.
During the ship’s port call in Colombo, Rear Admiral Yan Zhengming, superintendent of the PLA Navy's Dalian Naval Academy and commanding officer of the training ship's ocean-going mission, is scheduled to call on Navy Commander S. S. Ranasinghe and Rear admiral NPS Attygalle, Commander of Western Naval Area.
The Chinese officers and sailors on the training ship would visit a ship of the Sri Lanka Navy, exchange ideas with Sri Lanka Navy personnel and cadets from Naval and Maritime Academy, take part in a friendly basketball and soccer match with their Sri Lanka counterparts.
In addition, the Chinese side would hold a deck a reception on the training ship Qi Jiguang, which would be open to local visitors in Sri Lanka.
The ship is equipped with modern features, multiple functions and superior performance. She has several sets of world-class teaching equipment and can support more than 400 midshipmen to conduct various training such as navigation and maneuvering. She can also carry out non-combat military missions as oversea port calls, oversea Chinese evacuation and human rescue in major natural disasters. (Lahiru Pothmulla)