Delegates from 30 navies attend Western Pacific Naval Symposium (WPNS) Workshop 2024 hosted by the Chinese PLA Navy in Nanjing on January 16. (Photo by Xiao Yongli)
By Li Yun and Li Bingxuan
NANJING, Jan.17 -- The Western Pacific Naval Symposium (WPNS) Workshop 2024 kicked off in Nanjing, China, on January 16, which is hosted by the Chinese PLA Navy and attended by delegates from 30 navies.
The three-day workshop focuses on the revision and updating of documents including the WPNS Business Charter, the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea and the Disaster Response Guide, as well as future WPNS activities.
This is the second time that China has hosted the workshop. Delegates from 23 WPNS member states including China, Australia, Canada, Chile, France, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Russia and the US, as well as seven observer states including Bangladesh, India and Mexico, participated in the meeting synchronously offline and online.
At the opening ceremony, Senior Captain Qu Tao from the PLA Navy Staff Department said that Chinese Navy has been actively fulfilling its international obligations and providing maritime public safety products such as post-disaster relief, maritime search and rescue and medical services. It is willing to work with other navies to continue to uphold multilateralism, jointly advance global and regional maritime governance, and promote the building of a maritime community with a shared future.
The Western Pacific Naval Symposium is a regional naval cooperation mechanism, which has 23 member States and seven observer States. After more than 30 years of development, it has grown into an influential platform in the region, playing an increasingly important role in professional regional naval cooperation and the development of rules for maritime operations.