Three Chinese warships are on their way to Hawaii for a port visit and a search and rescue drill with the U.S. Navy as the two nations step up military exchanges, officials said.
China Daily reported that the guided-missile destroyer Qingdao, the missile frigate Linyi and the supply ship Hongzehu left Qingdao in Shandong province Tuesday bound for Hawaii.
The People’s Liberation Army Navy requested a meeting with Gov. Neil Abercrombie and Mayor Kirk Caldwell, an official said.
The three ships with nearly 700 crew members also will visit New Zealand and Australia and, while in Australia, will take part in a drill with member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, China Daily said.
The U.S. Navy has maintained a significant presence in East and Southeast Asia for decades, and China, with its rapidly growing military, has started to send ships farther afield.
Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert said recently that China sent an Auxiliary General Intelligence spy ship near Hawaii in 2012 when Rim of the Pacific war games were held.
Greenert was responding to a question as to why the United States was inviting China to participate for the first time in RIMPAC in 2014.
"Let’s determine a proper, if you will, code of conduct or means of interacting (with the Chinese) because that’s the way it’s going to be as they put more ships to sea — and we’re not leaving the Western Pacific," Greenert said.
Chinese warships have come to Hawaii at least four times since the People’s Liberation Army Navy first pulled into port in the Aloha State in 1989, the Navy said.
The Chinese Maritime Safety Administration ship Haixun 31 also made a historic first visit to Honolulu and the U.S. in September to conduct a joint search and rescue exercise with the U.S. Coast Guard.
