China will host the Western Pacific Naval Symposium for the first time on Tuesday, in the eastern city of Qingdao. It's the 14th time the bi-annual event has been held to discuss maritime affairs in the western Pacific region as well as efforts towards greater naval cooperation.

An 8-nation joint multilateral sea exercise will later be conducted on Wednesday and Thursday. Countries taking part include Bangladesh, Pakistan, Singapore, Indonesia, India, Malaysia and Brunei. Naval ships from all 7 countries arrived at the port of Qingdao on Sunday. They'll join Chinese ships for the two-day exercise, which is focused on improving emergency rescue operations.

China's North China Sea Fleet, along with a guided missile destroyer, supply ships and Marine Corps, will be taking part.