Chinese star navy escort fleet begins friendly visit to Italy

TARANTO-- The 19th Escort Taskforce of the Chinese navy arrived in the Italy port of Taranto on Sunday morning, commencing a five-day goodwill visit to the country.

Prior to this visit, the fleet has successfully accomplished the escort missions in the Gulf of Aden and Somali waters, the Yemen evacuation and joint China-Russia sea drills in the Mediterranean sea.

The fleet docked at the port at in the morning. Chinese officers and soldiers, wearing white naval uniform, waved on board in rows to their Italian counterparts as well as over 200 representatives from the Chinese Embassy, Chinese enterprises and community.

The Italian Navy held a welcome ceremony for the Chinese fleet,

and the navy band played national anthems of both countries. Delegates from Chinese navy also received flowers and warm greetings from the crowd.

After the ceremony, the Chinese Navy Ship Weifang were open to public visits.

A 4-year-old boy named Yi Le expressed his love to the ship after the visit. "It's amazing and grand, it can protect our motherland", he said excitedly.

"It's my first time to see our warship," said Mrs Zhang, mother of Yi. "As a Chinese living and working in Italy, I feel very proud of my country."

The Chinese fleet is scheduled to meet with Italian political and military heavyweights, and to visit the Italian aircraft carrier. During its stay, the two navies will also organize other friendly exchange programs including soccer and basketball games.

The fleet, comprising of missile frigates Linyi and Weifang, as well as supply ship Weishanhu, carried out its escort missions from Qingdao, a coastal city of Shandong Province in China on December 12 last year.

Italy is the third stop of the 19th Chinese naval escort fleet's European tour, with the fleet previously visiting Turkey and Croatia. The fleet will depart Italy on 11 June.