Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Training Ship Qi Jiguang docks in Manila in the morning of June 14 for a four-day goodwill port call.

The Ship, on a regional friendly tour, is moored at Pier 15 South Manila Port at 10 a.m. on June 14. Her Navy officers and cadets are welcomed by Huang Xilian, Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines. Major officials of the Chinese Embassy, representatives of Chinese businesses and students, overseas Chinese and the media in their three-hundred are also at the Pier with the Philippine host led by Commodore Carlo Lagasca of the Philippine Naval Littoral Combat Force and dozens of other Philippine naval officers and sailors for a warm reception. The Chinese PLAN Ship’s crew disembark amid music by Philippine Naval Band and lion dance by the Filipino Chinese community.

During their stay in Manila, the Chinese officers and cadets will visit a Philippine Naval Ship and conduct joint PASSEX among other professional exchanges before they take part in a friendship sports match with their Philippine counterparts. The Qi Jiguang Training Ship will also host open-day activities including a deck reception.

The PLAN Ship, named after a Chinese Ming Dynasty (circa 16th century) hero navy officer, was commissioned in February 2017. It is the largest and most advanced naval training vessel designed and built by China herself. This is Ship Qi Jiguang’s first port call at Manila since her commissioning, and first visit to the Philippines by a Chinese Naval Ship since January 2019. The Chinese Ship, this time, also visited Vietnam, Thailand and Brunei before arrival at Manila.

A steady step in CN-PH defense cooperation, the visit is following the tradition of exchanges between the two militaries in addition to implementing the important consensus between the heads-of-state of China and the Philippines.