A Chinese naval fleet arrived in the southern Pakistani port of Karachi on Monday for a three-day visit.

A Shenzhen missile destroyer and Weishanhu ocean supplier were piloted to the port by a Pakistani destroyer.

Present at the shipside welcoming ceremony were Pakistani combined coastal forces Rear Admiral Iftikhar Ahmed, Chinese Consul General in Karachi Sun Chunye and Military Attaché at the Chinese Embassy in Islamabad Li Mengyan.

The Chinese and the Pakistani navies greeted each other with a 21-gun salute. About 150 representatives from the consulate general, Karachi-based Chinese companies and overseas Chinese, and 200 Pakistani school children received the fleet with flowers and both national flags.

By the end of the visit, the Chinese and Pakistani navies will hold their first joint exercises, mainly search and rescue, in the Arabian Sea.

(Xinhua News Agency November 22, 2005)