Article Posted on : - Apr 23, 2014

BEIJING (PTI): India and over 140 other countries are taking part in a biennial conference of the Western Pacific Naval Symposium (WPNS) which opened in the eastern Chinese port of Qingdao on Tuesday.

This is the first time that China, one of the 12 founding members of WPNS, is hosting the symposium.

India is an observer in the WPNS.

Participants will discuss and vote on whether to accept Pakistan as a WPNS observer at the symposium.

Rules on accidental maritime encounters were passed at the symposium after reaching consensus among all the member states, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

The WPNS was established as proposed by the US and its allies in 1987 with the goal to promote pragmatic cooperation between the navies of nations bordering the Pacific Ocean.

Delegates at the two-day event will review the work of WPNS-sponsored seminars and other activities for the past year and deliberate on maritime regulations, among other discussions and exchanges.

The WPNS meeting coincides with the 65th anniversary celebrations of China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy.

India, Pakistan and six other countries have sent their ships to take part. The Indian stealth frigate Shivalik is in Qingdao for the event.

Ships from Bangladesh, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei besides China will also join the exercises.

Multi-country maritime exercises also will be conducted off the coast of Qingdao till tomorrow to mark 65 years of the founding of the PLA Navy.

China will send warships, supply ships, a hospital ship, helicopters and marines to the exercises, which feature joint maritime search and rescue operations.

The WPNS now has 21 member countries, including Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, China, France, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, South Korea, Russia, Singapore, Thailand, Tonga, the US and Vietnam.

It also has three observers in Bangladesh, India and Mexico.