Overseas News
United States destroyer docks in China
Commanding
Officer Chuck Nygaard (R) of the USS Paul F. Foster is greeted
by a Chinese military officer, 24 November 2002, after the US
ship's arrival in China's northern port city of Qingdao. The visit
by the US navy ship marks the resumption of military exchanges
between the two countries since the April 2001 spy plane collision,
making this the first port call by a US ship to a mainland China
port since then. AFP PHOTO/Frederic J. BROWN
By ED LANFRANCO
BEIJING, (UPI) -- The USS Paul F. Foster, which arrived in Qingdao, China, on Sunday, is the first U.S. Navy warship to visit a mainland China port since the April 2001 collision of an American surveillance plane and a Chinese fighter jet.
China detained the U.S. plane's 24-member crew for 11 days after it made an emergency landing on Hainan island, leading to a suspension of military contacts between the two countries.
Qingdao, meaning "Green Island," has the look and feel of a European port city. It is the home base for China's North Sea Naval Fleet and is an important electronic manufacturing base in China.
Prior to the 1980s, the city's name was spelled "Tsingtao," which is still used on the country's oldest and best-known brand of beer. It was founded on Chinese territory seized by the Germans in 1897 for a navy base and was taken over by Japan during World War I. They continued to build in a German style of architecture until 1945.
"This is a grand finale to a great deployment," the Foster's captain, Cmdr. John C. "Chuck" Nygaard, told United Press International in a phone interview from Beijing on Monday morning. The destroyer will make a five-day stay in Qingdao.
Nygaard met with Vice Admiral Ding Yiping, head of the North Sea Fleet, on Sunday. The two discussed areas of future cooperation, exchanged commemorative plaques, and planned to hold sports competitions between the two sides.
Later on Monday, Nygaard was scheduled to meet with Qingdao's mayor, Du Shicheng.
The port call was the result of the October summit between Presidents Jiang Zemin and George W. Bush in the United States last month.
Nygaard, 43, an 18-year Navy veteran from Fort Meyers, Fla., said, "We've been at sea for over a month," adding, "my sailors are totally lovin' it."
One-third of the ship's complement arrived in Beijing for what Command Master Chief Laurel Davis called "morale welfare recreation."
She told UPI that sailors from the USS Foster are going to visit some of the Chinese capital's well-known tourist destinations, including the Ming Tombs, Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Three of the crew plan to hold re-enlistment ceremonies on the Great Wall.
Davis, originally from Santa Fe, N.M., is one of 28 female sailors aboard the USS Foster. She is the highest-ranking non-commissioned officer on the ship and only one of 10 women holding the rank of command master chief in the entire U.S. Navy.
Asked about the jobs held by women on the Foster, Davis said one officer was in charge of the ship's long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles, another offered career counseling, while others were responsible for the anchor and lines.
"This port visit is one of the reasons I joined up," Davis, who has been in the Navy for 21 years told UPI. "The Chinese have been very hospitable to us as we walked around the city in uniform, talking to us 100 mph."
Part of her duties as the top enlisted personnel is to oversee the raising of the colors each day.
"It was pretty amazing as we and the Chinese performed this task on our respective ships docked side by side this morning," she said.
After leaving Qingdao on Thursday, the Spruance class destroyer is headed back to its homeport of Everett, Wash., in time for Christmas.
The ship, on active service since 1976, is scheduled to be decommissioned in March 2003.