A Chinese naval fleet on Wednesday crossed the Suez Canal during its round-the-world voyage, the first in the Chinese Navy's history.
The fleet, composed of a missile guided destroyer, the Qingdao, and a supply ship, the Taicang, is expected to take up a berth at the northern Egyptian port city of Alexandria on Friday to start a five-day visit to Egypt.
The two vessels, led by Ding Yiping, commander of the North China Sea Fleet, weighed anchor at a naval port in China's eastern port city of Qingdao on May 15.
The warships with more than 500 crew members on board were designed and built in China.
(People's Daily June 13, 2002)
