Intensified training

In the past year, the Navy has striven to fulfill Xi's instructions by intensifying military drills and going deeper into blue water.

In April, the Navy carried out its largest parade in the South China Sea, involving a vast armada of 48 ships, including the Liaoning, and six nuclear-powered submarines as well as 76 naval aircraft. The parade, viewed by Xi, displayed the latest achievements in the Navy's modernization drive.

Since May 2017, the Liaoning carrier battle group, a symbol of China's rising prowess at sea, has undertaken two long-range combat exercises, aiming to verify and enhance the collaboration and coordination among ships in the group and between ships and carrier-borne aircraft.

"Such operations have examined the battle group's offensive and defense systems and fostered commanders' ability to make decisions under complicated circumstances," said Gao Zhaorui, chief of staff of the carrier battle group.

Ding Yang, a J-15 carrier-borne fighter jet pilot, said that combat training over open seas hones aviators' response capabilities and supports crew preparedness and commander skills.

In March, two PLA Marine Corps forces, totaling over 10,000 personnel, traveled about 2,000 kilometers to Yunnan and Shandong provinces in a long-range mobility exercise, which military observers called the corps' largest training operation.

In July, China established the Djibouti Logistics Support Base, the nation's first of its kind. The base, managed by the Navy, is tasked with supporting naval escort, peacekeeping operations and humanitarian missions in Africa and western Asia. Navy personnel stationed there have conducted several live-fire drills.

The Navy has also been active in conveying China's goodwill to other nations in the past year. A three-ship fleet made a 176-day voyage to 20 countries in Asia, Africa and Europe from late April to mid-October, setting a record for the Navy.

Chinese naval flotillas also participated in multiple international drills in the Pacific Ocean and executed live-fire exercises in the Mediterranean and Baltic seas during joint exercises.