The Chinese navy will participate in a ten-day multinational naval exercise in the seas off Pakistan in March, a Ministry of National Defense official said Thursday.

A task force, composed of the destroyer Guangzhou, a helicopter and 10 members of the marine corps will take part in the "Peace-09" exercise, said ministry spokesman Huang Xueping.

The drill, slated for March 5 in the port city of Karachi, was initiated by the Pakistan navy and will be attended by 11 countries.

It includes search-and-rescue exercises, anti-piracy operations and fleet formation defenses.

The purpose for attending the operation is to allow the Chinese navy to gain useful experience from foreign counterparts, strengthen its communication capacity, learn how to cooperate with foreign navies in handling new threats and challenges at sea and maintaining regional peace and stability, Huang said.

The Chinese navy, together with task forces from France, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States, attended a Pakistan navy-initiated joint military exercise in March 2007.

(Xinhua News Agency February 20, 2009)