Commanders of Chinese and Japanese escort taskforces meet for first time

That is definitely room for improvement.

(Source: MOD) 2010-04-29

http://eng.chinamil.com.cn/news-channels/china-military-news/2010-04/29/content_4211606.htm

　　At 12:30 on April 28, local time, Captain Takanobu Minami, commander of the Japanese escort taskforce in the Gulf of Aden and the waters off the Somali coast and commander of the Escort Division 6 of the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force, and other four Japanese naval officers boarded the “Guangzhou” guided-missile destroyer of the Navy of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) by taking a small boat from the “SAWAGIRI” guided-missile destroyer to have a face-to-face exchange with Zhang Wendan, commander of the 5th Chinese naval escort taskforce and deputy chief of staff of the South China Sea Fleet of the PLA Navy. This is the first meeting and exchange between commanders of the Chinese escort taskforce and Japanese escort taskforce.

　　The meeting was held in the west sea area of the Gulf of Aden. During the meeting, the two sides introduced their respective escort force composition, modes of escort organization, means of escort and ways of information collection, explored and analyzed the current escort situation in the Gulf of Aden and the waters off the Somali coast and exchanged views on information sharing and intelligence exchange during the escort process.

　　Zhang Wendan said that ever since the Chinese naval escort taskforce came to the Gulf of Aden and the waters off the Somali coast to implement escort tasks, it had been attaching great importance to enhancing the information communication and intelligence sharing with escort warships of various countries. This meeting between commanders of the escort taskforces of the two countries is conducive to promoting the exchange and cooperation between the two sides in the future escort actions.

　　Takanobu Minami said that the Japanese escort taskforce was willing to carry out effective cooperation with the Chinese naval escort taskforce, in a bid to jointly safeguard the safety of the ships and personnel passing by.

　　Takanobu Minami and his party visited the “Guangzhou” warship after the meeting.

　　By Zhang Qi and Cao Haihua

Editor:Liu Wanyun