The World - News from April 2, 1989

The first ever visit by a warship of the People’s Republic of China to an American port will take place this month, the U.S. Embassy in Beijing announced, and a U.S. official said America would probably make a Chinese port call in mid-May. The embassy said the Zheng He, a training ship of the People’s Liberation Army, has set sail for Pearl Harbor from Qingdao. It is scheduled to arrive in Hawaii on April 11. The U.S. return visit is likely to occur on May 18, the last day of Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev’s visit to China. The U.S. Navy made a port call to mainland China in 1986, the first such visit since the U.S. ships sailed out of Qingdao ahead of Communist forces in 1949.