Chinese flotilla patrols Xisha Islands

A flotilla with China's Nanhai Fleet has completed a two-day patrol of waters off the Xisha Islands on Wednesday.

The flotilla undertook a "three-dimensional" patrol of several islets, using surface vessels, hovercraft and shipboard helicopters.

Marines with the flotilla conducted a 20-minute landing training on Wednesday. The training "attained its anticipated objectives", according to Hu Dehai, a deputy brigade commander.

Commander of the Nanhai Fleet Jiang Weilie, who also serves as the flotilla's commander, landed on the islands to greet the garrison troops.

The patrol and landing operations fall within the flotilla's annual schedule that include combat drills in the South China Sea, the West Pacific Ocean and the east Indian Ocean.

The three-ship flotilla, consisting of amphibious landing craft Changbaishan and destroyers Wuhan and Haikou, left from a military port in south China's Hainan Province on Monday.

Changbaishan is the country's largest landing ship by gross tonnage and is equipped with an advanced weapons system. Both Wuhan and Haikou have experience of major drills and escort missions in the Gulf of Aden.

Three helicopters and a company of marines are stationed aboard the ships.