Naval ships participating in the "Maritime Coperation-2014"multilateral exercise, with the exception of Singapore's RSS Formidable frigate, were open to local residents in Qingdao on April 22, where the 14th annual conference for the WPNS (Western Pacific Naval Symposium) was also taking place on April 22 and 23. Of the seven foreign ships, five were frigates from Bangladesh, Malaysia, Singapore, Pakistan and India, one was a patrol boat from Brunei and one was an amphibious dock landing ship from Indonesia.

According to Shi Lei, Captain of PLA Navy's missile destroyer Harbin, Chinese naval ships were to receive three groups of people: naval attachés from foreign embassies in Beijing, local residents, and also fellow marines from foreign ships. He said the public would be allowed to stroll around for three hours on the pier and visit the ships.

As for the Harbin, visitors were allowed to see a short-range antimissile warship cannon system, electronic warfare and reconnaissance equipment, a display mainly comprising the parts lying above the deck. Shi Lei said that from a naval perspective, it was quite helpful for naval ships to be open to each other, as only through communication and visiting of each other's ships can different navies better understand their own deficiencies and others' advantages, so as to learn lessons for future operations.

Navy open days like this are not an unusual occurrence for local residents in Qingdao. Yuan Lei is a 21-year-old navy enthusiast. He said he had visited the Harbin for many times. That morning, he had visited India's frigate Shivalik, and Brunei's patrol boat Dalu Yi Mountains, but he thought it was a pity that Singapore's RSS Formidable was not able to receive visitors on the day. Yuan said he felt the Chinese navy had become increasingly open to the public in recent years, and he was thus able to see many parts on the ship of interest to him that he was especially eager to see.

On Brunei's patrol boat, some of the crew were warmly greeting visitors in Chinese "huanying deng jian", which means "welcome aboard." They said they had just picked up these simple Chinese words and hoped Chinese visitors will feel the spirit of their friendship upon hearing the crew speaking Chinese words.

Also present on the pier was the Royal Australian Navy band, who attracted a huge number of visitors by virtue of their beautiful music and graceful etiquette. Particularly when the Chinese folk song Yingshanhong was playing, Paul Cottier, the band's conductor, said that he heard many Chinese vistors people singing along to the music.

When asked why the navy band had come to Qingdao while the naval ship was not present, which means the band had to travel to Qingdao by  plane, Cottier said that a lot of ships are now trying to find the missing Malaysia Airlines MH370, and thus due to operational requirements, the Australian ship that was scheduled to be sent to China for the fleet review on the day of PLA Navy's 65th founding anniversary was unable to attend. The Royal Australian Navy then decided to send the navy band to Qingdao to represent Australia,  and to show goodwill to the Chinese people.

(Reporting from Qingdao, Shandong Province)