One of the achievements of the just-ended 14th annual conference of the Western Pacific Naval Symposium (WPNS) is that Pakistan Navy was formally accorded WPNS "Observer Status" with full consensus in Qingdao on April 22.

The event was attended by Naval chiefs and high-level representatives of the member navies. Formed in 1988, the WPNS aims to enhance cooperation and the ability to operate together amongst navies of West Pacific rim nations. Since then, the WPNS has emerged as an important regional maritime collaboration forum.

"We're grateful to the PLA Navy and the Chinese Government for sponsoring our observer membership in this WPNS annual conference," Admiral Muhammad Asif Sandila, Pakistan's chief of naval staff, who was invited to attend the 14th annual meeting, told Beijing Review on April 22. He said he feels particularly pleased that Pakistan was granted observer status in such a friendly country as China.

The admiral said that, through the hosting of this symposium by the PLA Navy, China had shown that it wants to work for peace in the world and wishes to cooperate with everybody. This resolve has recently been demonstrated in the joint search for the missing Malaysian Airliner MH370, in the coordinated anti-piracy efforts in the Gulf of Aden in the past years and in the response to the recent South Korean ferry accident. Like everybody else, China wants to promote peace and stability in the world.

"Relations between our two countries are very strong," the admiral said. "We work and cooperate with each other at all international levels, and this  is reflected in the relationship between the Pakistan navy and PLA navy. Chinese ships regularly participate in exercises in Pakistan, and Pakistan ships participate in exercises in China."

Also at the invitation of the PLA Navy, the Pakistan Naval ship, Shamsheer, arrived in east China's coastal city Qingdao on April 20, to take part in the multilateral maritime exercise "Maritime Cooperation-2014" hosted by the PLA Navy on April 23.

Shamsheer's Commanding Officer Captain Rashed Zafar Cheema was warmly received by Qingdao garrison commander Wu Dongzhu at a welcoming ceremony in a naval port of the coastal city on April 20. The frigate was built in China at a shipyard in Shanghai and was commissioned by the Pakistan Navy more than four years ago.

To highlight the China-Pakistan friendship and also the close ties between the two navies, Admiral Wu Shengli, Commander in Chief of the PLA Navy, chose Pakistan as the first leg of his visits to the warships that held deck receptions on the evening of April 22.

When meeting the admiral in Qingdao on the afternoon of April 23, Fan Changlong, Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China, said that China will continue to give priority to the development of the China-Pakistan relationship as it has always done, so as to strengthen cooperation between the two countries' military forces in various aspects, and to reflect the spirit of the special friendship between the two countries in tangible cooperation, to bring more benefits and welfare to the people of both countries.

                                       (Reporting from Qingdao, Shandong Province)