A Chinese fleet has arrived at the Pearl Harbor in Hawaii of the United States on Wednesday to for the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) multinational naval exercise.

Under the direction of a U.S. pilot and auxiliary boat, missile destroyer Haikou, missile frigate Yueyang, supply ship Qiandaohu and hospital ship Peace Ark of the Chinese fleet reached the harbor in an orderly way, and received great welcome from the U.S. side.

The fleet departed from military harbors in the southern city of Sanya and eastern city of Zhoushan on June 9, and then joined naval forces from Singapore, Brunei, and the United States in the waters off Guam on June 14 en route for the naval exercise.

Then, the nine ships successively completed formation, formation alternation, firing, and replenishment training at sea.

“Through targeted pre-training, we became familiar with the formation, communication procedure, and training organization and implementation of the joint fleet. Besides, by visiting each other’s ship, the sailors from different participating countries increased their understanding of each other. Thus, I think that it has laid a solid foundation for the next phrase of the exercise,” said Zhao Xiaogang, Chinese commander of naval exercise.

From July 9 to 30, the joint fleet will carry out training items like cannon-firing, material transfer, anti-piracy and interception, coordinated assault between helicopter and ships, maritime security actions, and maritime warship exercises. There will also be medicine exchange, humanitarian aid and disaster reduction exercises, and diving drills.

RIMPAC, which started in 1971 and was held every two years, is the world’s largest multinational maritime military exercise.

This year’s exercise is under the theme of “capability, adaptability and cooperation,” with a total of 23 nations participating.