Nice Background information from PLAdaily.

Chronicle of Chinese naval ships' overseas missions

english.chinamil.com.cn 2008-12-30

　　As of today, the Chinese naval ship taskforces have accomplished with flying colors such missions as supporting the test-fire of remote carrier rockets, overseas visits, exercises in the non-traditional security field, multilateral maritime joint military exercises, which accumulatively involved nearly 80 ships/times and were taken to more than 30 countries.

　　First ocean-going voyage. To ensure the success of the test-fire of the remote carrier rockets, the Chinese Navy sent out, in 1980, a large ship taskforce consisting of 18 escorting, survey and support ships to navigate across the equator to the South Pacific covering a distance of 8,000 nautical miles, which has demonstrated to the world that the Chinese Navy had acquired the capability of sending large taskforce for the ocean-going missions.

　　First overseas visit. From November 16, 1985 to January 19, 1986, a ship taskforce consisting of "Hefei" guided missile destroyer and "Fengcang" ocean-going comprehensive supply ship paid a visit to the Karachi Port, Pakistan, Colombo Port, Sri Lanka and Chittagong Port, Bangladesh for the first time.

　　First global navigation. In May 2002, the Chinese naval taskforce made the first around-the-world voyage. A taskforce consisting of "Qingdao" guided missile destroyer and "Taicang" comprehensive supply ship navigated a total distance of 33,000 sea miles in 132 days and nights to call on 10 countries and ports including Singapore, Egypt, Turkey, Peru and France spanning five continents, thus creating a record for being the longest visit, the farthest navigation distance, the widest coverage of sea areas and visiting the most countries.

　　First involvement in exercise in nontraditional security field with foreign navies abroad. On November 8, 2005, a ship task force consisting of "Shenzhen" guided missile destroyer and "Weishanhu" comprehensive supply ship visited Pakistan, India and Thailand. During the visit, the Chinese naval taskforce successfully held exercises with the joint search and rescue as the main contents with the navies of the three countries. This was the first exercise jointly conducted by the Chinese navy and foreign navies abroad, which had spread China's peaceful foreign policy and the new security concept of "mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality and coordination" to the world.

　　First multilateral maritime joint military exercise. In February 2007, a ship taskforce consisting of "Lianyungang" frigate and "Sanming" frigate participated in the "Peace 2007" multi-country joint maritime exercise held in Pakistan. That was the first multilateral joint maritime military exercise participated by the Chinese warships. The ocean-going voyage was made with no accompanying supply ship for the warships.

　　Participating in the trilateral joint maritime exercise initiated by China. On September 10, 2007, the "Harbin" guided missile destroyer and the "Hongzehu" comprehensive supply ship visited Australia and New Zealand. During the visit, China, Australia and New Zealand held a trilateral joint maritime exercise promoted by China on the Tasman Sea area in the South Pacific.

　　First escort mission in the Gulf of Aden and the waters off Somali coast. On December 26, 2008, an escort taskforce consisting of "Wuhan" and "Haikou" guided missile destroyers, "Weishanhu" comprehensive supply ship, two ship-board helicopters and some members of special force left Sanya of Hainan for the Gulf of Aden and the waters off Somali coast to perform escort operations. The main task of the Chinese naval taskforce is to protect the safety of the Chinese ships and personnel navigating across the Gulf of Aden and the waters off Somali coast, the safety of ships carrying humanistic materials of such international organizations as the World Food Program, and, if the need arises, the taskforce will jointly conduct humanistic rescue operations with the escorting ships of other countries.

　　By Wu Dengfeng and Bai Ruixue

　　(Dec 30, PLA Daily) Editor: Chen Jie