QINGDAO,CHINA, 22 - 25 April 2014 – The 14th Western Pacific Naval Symposium (WPNS), hosted by the Navy of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA-N), was held in Qingdao, a beautiful coastal city in east China. Naval leaders and representatives from 21 member countries, 3 observer countries of the Symposium and including Pakistan who applied for the Observer Status of the Symposium, attended the meeting.
Representing the Royal Brunei Navy, First Admiral Dato Seri Pahlawan Abdul Aziz bin Haji Mohd Tamit, Commander of Royal Brunei Navy.
The symposium was officially commenced by the Opening Speech delivered by Admiral Wu Shengli, Commander of the PLA-N and the Chairman of this year’s symposium. In his speech, Admiral Wu Shengli stated that WPNS has become an important mechanism and role model for regional maritime security cooperation and it’s ever growing influence has given it a more important role in worldwide maritime affairs.
This year’s WPNS achieved its significant milestone where the members and observers voted unanimously to endorse the document of “Code of Unplanned Encounters at Sea” (CUES) and to be implemented by all members. During the two-day symposium, all member and observer countries agreed and welcomed the Pakistan Navy to be an Observer of WPNS. The attendees reviewed the minutes of the annual meeting in 2012 and the minutes of the workshop in 2013 and 2014, introduced and confirmed the future activity schedules and long-term work-plans, held special-topic discussions focusing on the theme of “Cooperation, Trust, Win-win”, and listened to the report on the search for the missing plane MH370.
These biennial symposiums are expected to further reinforce the pragmatic cooperation at sea, enhance the mutual understanding and trust amongst navies from other countries. It has been proven through practice that cooperation leads to trust and further develops to win-win situations. Focusing on this year’s theme, the WPNS highlighted China’s most sincere desire to strengthen safety cooperation at sea and maintain maritime security.
The Commander of RBN also conducted several Bilateral Meetings namely with, Chief of Navy Royal Australian Navy, Commander in Chief Navy of People’s Liberation Army, Chief of Naval Staff of Indonesian Navy, Chief of Navy Republic of Singapore Navy and Commander of United States Pacific Fleet.
Multilateral Maritime Exercise was also held in conjunction with the 14th WPNS and participating in the exercise were KDB DARULEHSAN together with 9 other countries involving 10 warships participating for two days at sea; 23rd to 24th April 2014. The sea-phase included a range of exercises; Joint Anti-Hijacking, Search and Rescue (SAR) and small arms firing.
The symposium ended in a positive note, whereby anticipated goals of broadening horizons, enhancing mutual understanding and deepening friendship have been reached, said Admiral Wu.
The following symposium will be hosted by the Indonesian Navy in 2016.
