Chinese Naval Fleet Ends Visit to Egypt

A Chinese naval fleet weighed anchor at the northern Egyptian port city of Alexandria on Tuesday after a five-day visit to Egypt, to continue its first round-the-world voyage.

The fleet, composed of a missile guided destroyer, the Qingdao, and a supply ship, the Taicang, took up a berth in Alexandria on Friday, the second stop of its global trip.

During their stay, the Chinese naval servicemen aboard the two vessels conducted various kinds of exchanges with their Egyptian counterparts and visited some cultural relics in Alexandria and Cairo.

The fleet, led by Ding Yiping, commander of the North China Sea Fleet, left a naval port in China's eastern port city of Qingdao on May 15.

(China Daily June 18, 2002)