Chinese naval frigate "Xiangfan" arrived in Singapore on Monday for a multilateral naval exercise to be held in the South China Sea off Singapore from May 15 to 20.

The frigate, under the command of Senior Captain Li Xiaoyan and Commander Wang Linjiang, received warm welcome by Singapore naval representative, Chinese Ambassador Zhang Xiaokang, Military Attache Senior Colonel Liu Zhuoli as well as representatives from Chinese companies and Chinese students studying in Singapore.

The Xiangfan will also feature in a maritime defense exhibition sponsored by Singapore.

More than 20 warships from the countries such as China, the United States, France, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, India, Pakistan, the Republic of Korea and Singapore are expected to join the exercise.

The Xiangfan will take part in four drills, namely defense against smaller vessels, crossing mined areas, rescue, and target shooting.

The exercise, under the framework of the Western Pacific Naval Symposium, of which China is a founding member, is aimed to increase cooperation among naval forces.

During the exhibition, the Xiangfan will be open to visitors from other participating vessels.

The Xiangfan, left southern China's Sanya Port for Singapore last Friday, was domestically designed and built in China, and commissioned in 2002.