The Navy announced today that a People’s Liberation Army-Navy ship will visit Pearl Harbor next week, a stopover that comes with tensions mounting by the day between the United States and China in the South China Sea.

The Zheng He, described as a midshipmen training ship, is expected to arrive Monday and stay through Friday, the Navy said.

“This routine port visit will give Chinese sailors an opportunity to interact with their U.S. counterparts,” Naval Surface Group Middle Pacific said in a release.

Four People’s Liberation Army-Navy ships were in Pearl Harbor last summer for Rim of the Pacific maritime exercises.

Zheng He will be hosted by the cruiser USS Chosin. Chinese and U.S. Naval officers “will conduct dialogues to build confidence and mutual understanding,” the Navy said.

American and Chinese sailors will participate in sports including soccer, tug-of-war and basketball games.

The Navy said it is committed to “continued engagements (with China) to improve mutual understanding, build trust, enhance transparency, and reduce the risk of misperceptions and miscalculations.”

The U.S. government is said to be planning to send a surface ship within 12 nautical miles of islands China is building in the contested Spratly Islands in the South China Sea as a “freedom of navigation” demonstration.

China claims much of the South China Sea as part of its territory, an assertion rejected by the United States, which maintains the waters are international and can be traversed.

A 12-nautical-mile territorial limit normally applies, but the United States does not recognize China’s sovereign claims with the man-made islands it is creating. Some U.S. officials believe China will use the islands for military purposes to control shipping and airspace in the vitally-important economic region.

A U.S. Navy patrol within 12 nautical miles would reinforce America’s contention that the waters are international. The United Nations Convention for the Law of the Sea does not recognize artificial islands for territorial purposes.

Beijing issued a warning that it “will never allow any country to violate China’s territorial waters and airspace in the Spratly Islands in the name of protecting freedom of navigation and overflight,” news agency Reuters reported today.