Source: Beijing Youth Daily

Author: Li Yan

The 19th annual meeting of the Western Pacific Naval Forum ended in Qingdao on April 23.

According to the Ministry of National Defense, on the same day, General Hu Zhongming, commander of the PLA Navy, attended the high-level seminar of the annual meeting and made a keynote speech; Admiral Yuan Huazhi, Political Commissar of the Navy, attended the closing ceremony and delivered a speech.

　　 Four initiatives

On the 23rd, at the high-level seminar of the 19th annual meeting of the Western Pacific Naval Forum, Admiral Hu Zhongming, the commander of the Chinese navy, made a keynote speech on the theme of "working together, moving forward hand in hand, and jointly building and protecting a shared ocean of destiny", and put forward four initiatives.

△ Hu Zhongming at the opening ceremony of the annual meeting

Hu Zhongming said that in order to realize the good vision of eternal peace, lasting security, prosperity and beauty of the sea, navies of all countries must work together with one heart and sincere cooperation, and constantly exert the role and influence of maritime forces of all countries. First, close communication and exchange to consolidate the foundation of mutual trust. Second, improve the quality and efficiency of cooperation and promote common development. Third, strengthen cooperation in action to protect maritime security. Fourth, expand public goods and promote marine welfare.

Hu Zhongming said that the maritime forces of all countries bear an important responsibility for maintaining maritime peace and order. He called on the navies of all countries to have dialogue rather than confrontation, to have exchanges rather than hostility, to build foundations rather than walls, and to add bricks rather than chaos.

Hu Zhongming said that building a community with a shared future in the sea calls for all countries' navies to share responsibilities and cooperate. The Chinese navy is willing to work together with the navies of other countries to keep watch and help each other, set the course and forge ahead bravely, so that the huge ship of peaceful ocean development can travel steadily and forge ahead towards a better future with shared destiny.

On the 23rd, the annual meeting ended in Qingdao.

At the closing ceremony, Admiral Yuan Huazhi, Political Commissar of the Navy, said that the Chinese Navy was willing to work with other countries' navies to work for maritime peace, safeguard maritime tranquility, contribute to maritime prosperity, and work together as a strong advocate, a strong practitioner, and a joint driver of a community of shared future for the sea.

　　 "Captain"

Zheng Zhijun noticed that General Hu Zhongming was the new commander of the PLA Navy.

On December 25, 2023, Hu Zhongming was promoted to the rank of general. At the promotion ceremony, he made his first public appearance as a naval commander.

According to public reports, General Hu Zhongming has served in the Navy for a long time. He once served as submarine captain, assistant chief of staff, deputy chief of staff, deputy commander and commander of naval forces in the northern theater, and chief of staff.

The surging news revealed that Hu Zhongming has rich experience in going to sea. He has successively completed the full training of the captain of conventional submarines, the qualification training of the captain of destroyers and the full subject training of the captain of a new type of submarines. He has participated in the first round the world voyage of the Navy, and has participated in major exercises and drills for many times. His unit has been praised by the Navy as an advanced ship company pacesetter, It was praised by the fleet as a grass-roots construction model unit.

Global Network disclosed that Hu Zhongming was once the captain of the navy's new submarine. In the trial voyage of a new type submarine, the danger of "falling deep" was successfully handled, and serious accidents were avoided.

According to Outlook Oriental Weekly, Hu Zhongming once served as submarine captain with the rank of Senior Colonel. Since most of the captains of submarines in the PLA are lieutenant colonels, Hu Zhongming was once called "senior captain".

The China Youth Daily also introduced Hu Zhongming with the title of "Captain"——

• Hu Zhongming, the captain of a crew of a certain unit of the South China Sea Fleet, is a learning captain who studies hard to drill new equipment, explores and innovates the methods of training and fighting, and bravely goes into the deep sea to practice hard to kill the enemy. The chief engineer of a certain type of submarine who once carried out a test project with the boat said: "Follow Captain Hu to the sea, and be confident."

　　 Naval leaders of Russia and other countries were invited to speak

According to public reports, the annual meeting opened on April 22, and naval delegations from 29 countries, including the United States and Russia, attended the meeting——

• Steve Koehler, commander of the Pacific Fleet of the US Navy, and Alexander Moisheyev, commander in chief of the Russian Navy, led the US and Russian delegations to Qingdao to attend the conference.

Earlier, Wu Qian, spokesman of the Ministry of National Defense, said that at this annual meeting, the Navy will hold a high-level seminar on "shared destiny in the ocean", which will set three sub topics: "global security initiatives and maritime peace and tranquility", "maritime security cooperation and international law based maritime order", and "jointly build and share and global maritime governance", Invite some foreign naval leaders to make speeches around the topic; Navy leaders will also hold bilateral meetings with delegations of relevant countries.

According to the Ministry of Defense, representatives of 29 countries attended the high-level seminar. Leaders and representatives from the navies (maritime defense departments) of Russia, Indonesia, Colombia, Pakistan, France, Thailand, Japan, Peru, Fiji and other countries reviewed the results of strengthening exchanges and cooperation among countries Speech and exchange on topics such as practical cooperation in traditional and non-traditional fields.

　　 "The consistent strategy of the US side"

According to public reports, some analysts believe that this annual meeting is not only a demonstration of China's military diplomacy, but also an important occasion to observe the interaction between the two militaries.

Zheng Zhijun noticed that no American representative was among the speakers of the seminar disclosed by the Ministry of Defense. At the same time, as the host country of this annual meeting, China has previously sent invitations to all Forum member countries and observer countries to participate in the meeting. However, as a member of the Western Pacific Naval Forum, the Philippines did not participate in this annual meeting.

On April 23, Globegroup released a document saying that the Philippines is busy with another thing——

• On April 22, nearly 17000 Filipino and American soldiers began to hold "shoulder to shoulder" annual joint military exercises in the northern and western waters of the Philippines. It is said that this exercise will create many firsts: it will be conducted outside the Philippine territorial waters for the first time, and simulate the scenes of "sinking enemy ships" and "recapturing islands occupied by hostile forces"; The Philippine Coast Guard, which has repeatedly confronted China at sea, will participate in the exercise for the first time; The Teflon medium range missile launch system and the S-6 missile deployed by the United States in Luzon Island, Philippines, this month will also participate in the exercise.

Zhang Junshe, a military expert, explained to the Global Times that the Philippines' deliberate absence was not ruled out in order to continue to create topics, attract the attention of the international community and disrupt the forum. The Philippines' absence from the forum not only reduced the opportunities for exchanges with the navies of other countries, including China's navy, but also contradicted the international rules and maritime order that the Philippines has been advocating.

Fu Qianshao, a military expert, pointed out that while the United States and the Philippines conducted military exercises to provoke China, on the other hand, it sent senior officials to China to participate in the Western Pacific Naval Forum to contact with China, so as to prevent a series of actions around China from causing accidents, which is a consistent strategy of the United States.

Information | Website of the Ministry of National Defense Global Network Beijing Youth Daily CCTV News, etc

Editor in charge: Zhang Yu