11th naval escort taskforce releases messenger-bottles

The 11th Chinese escort taskforce of the Navy of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) held a grand messenger-bottle-releasing ceremony on the morning of March 14, 2012, local time, to convey messages of peace and friendship to the world.

It's learned that the ceremony was held respectively on "Qingdao" warship, "Yantai" warship and "Weishan Lake" supply ship.

The officers and men wrote the following words in their messenger-bottles: "One World, One Dream. Let us live together under a sunny, caring, peaceful and tranquil blue sky", "A harmonious world and a harmonious ocean are the dreams of every Chinese soldier", and "Let's seek more consensus and fewer differences; more understanding and fewer wars. China is willing to make joint efforts to safeguard world peace and stability".

Xia Kewei, political commissar of the naval escort taskforce, said that releasing messenger-bottles is to promote the concept of "building a harmonious ocean" to the world and express the sincere wishes of the peace-loving Chinese people.

It is learned that the 11th Chinese naval escort taskforce has been sailing 16 days through the South China Sea, the Singapore Strait, the Malacca Strait and the Gelert Strait since leaving Qingdao on February 27, 2012 and will arrive at the mission waters off the Gulf of Aden to take over the escort mission from the 10th Chinese naval escort taskforce.