The visit is "part of their good-will cruise to the United States," Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon announced Thursday.

The guided-missile destroyer Qingdao and the oiler Taicang will visit Pearl Harbor in Hawaii from September 5-8, the Pentagon said in a written statement. The two ships will then sail to Everett, Washington, arriving on September 14 and staying there until September 18.

Bacon said the Chinese visit comes on the heels of a similar friendly visit to China by the USS Chancellorsville, a navy missile cruiser. The Chancellorsville's three-day visit to the Chinese port of Qingdao, which began August 3, was the first US navy port call to China since last May's NATO bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade.

"The US-China relationship is of great importance to the long-term political, military, and economic interests of our nation," the Pentagon statement said.

"Interaction between (the US and Chinese navies) increases mutual understanding and confidence."

The senior People's Liberation Army (Navy) representative on the upcoming trip will be Rear Admiral Lu Fangqiu, the chief of staff of the Chinese North Sea Fleet, according to the Pentagon statement.

(China Daily)