China to host Western Pacific Naval Symposium in April

NANJING, Jan. 18 (Xinhua) -- The 19th biennial meeting of the Western Pacific Naval Symposium (WPNS) will be held in the Chinese port city of Qingdao in April, according to a meeting of the WPNS working group that ended on Thursday.

During the three-day working group meeting held in Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province, delegates engaged in discussions and exchanges on 10 topics, including the revision of the WPNS Business Charter, the application of the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea, and the symposium's future activities. Wide consensus has been built concerning multiple issues.

The outcomes of this meeting will be submitted to the upcoming WPNS biennial meeting for review and voting, said the working group.

Ren Xiaofeng, a senior officer with the Naval Research Academy and Chinese delegate to the working group meeting, expressed the hope that the meeting will help WPNS member countries promote and deepen exchanges, further manage disputes and eliminate risks.