GEORGE TOWN: One of the two training ships from China that docked at Penang Harbour last Saturday was involved in the search mission for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 in 2014.
State tourism and creative economy committee chairman Wong Hon Wai said the training ship JinggangShan 999 had departed from the port of Zhanjiang, China on March 9, 2014 to the search area for the plane that went missing during the flight to Beijing.
"During the 62 days of the search operation, JinggangShan 999 had explored a wide area including the Gulf of Thailand, Sumatra and the southwest and northwest of Australia with a sailing distance of over 31,000 kilometres," he said in a statement on his Facebook page on Saturday (Oct 12).
He explained that the relationship between Malaysia and China is good and the top leaders have visited each other, therefore the friendship visit of the training ship with the students of the Naval University of China should be seen from a positive point of view.
Regarding the visit of trainees from the Naval University of China to a private school here, Wong said the school has more than 1,900 students from Indonesia, Thailand, China and other countries like other private schools.
He explained that more than 30 students from China at the school had raised their national flag during the celebration while local students raised the Jalur Gemilang and Penang state flags.
"The widely circulated pictures on social media only show students from China waving the Chinese flag and there are actually other pictures of local students waving the Jalur Gemilang and the Penang state flag," he said.
Commenting further, he said other foreign naval ships had also docked at ports in Malaysia in accordance with official channels and protocols.
Wong said, taking as an example on Feb 25 2019, more than 20 members of the United States Army Marines namely the USS Ashland (LSD 48) and the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) visited Inanam National High School in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah and interacted with the school's students with some activities.
On Oct 5, Penang announced the arrival of 1,000 people from China to the state with the Qi Jiguang Training Ship and the JinggangShan Ship from Zhanjiang, for a friendly visit.
The visit was managed by the Consulate General of China in Penang and the two training ships docked for three days and departed for Chittagong, Bangladesh. - Bernama
