The Chinese Navy has held a grand maritime parade to mark its 60th anniversary. The celebrations were held off the coast of Qingdao. It was the first time the PLA Navy has ever held a parade of this kind.
-- "The advent of an aircraft carrier at the port of PLA Navy, to me, really doesn´t change the nature of our operations at all. We have been operating aircraft carriers ourselves, and the real issue is how are those aircraft carriers used, and what is the intent of that capability."
-- “There have been many interactions between Canada and China , but on military level, we don’t often do this, so it’s a good to have a chance to come and cooperate with the Chinese navy. "
-- "Suspicions about China being a ´threat´ to world security are mostly because of misunderstandings and lack of understandings about China."
-- "The suspicions would disappear if foreign counterparts could visit the Chinese navy and know about the true situations."
"The construction of an aircraft carrier is a gradual process. For example, in terms of its engine system, it starts from conventional fuel power to advanced nuclear power. For China, it´s more practical to start from building a middle-range carrier before jumping to the next stage. "
China´s anti-piracy naval fleet sailed into waters off Somalia on Jan. 6th 2009, starting the first escorting mission in the Gulf of Aden to protect passing ships against pirates.