Naval conference starts Tuesday in China's Qingdao City

China will host the Western Pacific Naval Symposium for the first time on Tuesday, in the eastern city of Qingdao. It's the 14th time the bi-annual event has been held to discuss maritime affairs in the western Pacific region as well as efforts towards greater naval cooperation.

An 8-nation joint multilateral sea exercise will later be conducted on Wednesday and Thursday. Countries taking part include Bangladesh, Pakistan, Singapore, Indonesia, India, Malaysia and Brunei. Naval ships from all 7 countries arrived at the port of Qingdao on Sunday. They'll join Chinese ships for the two-day exercise, which is focused on improving emergency rescue operations.

China's North China Sea Fleet, along with a guided missile destroyer, supply ships and Marine Corps, will be taking part.