(YIN XIANGLONG)

A live fire drill is held in the West Pacific Ocean on February 7 by a flotilla with China's Nanhai Fleet during its annual patrol and training mission.

The three-ship flotilla, consisting of the amphibious landing craft Changbaishan and the destroyers Wuhan and Haikou, patrolled waters off the Xisha Islands, Nanshan Islands and the Zengmu Reef, the southernmost part of the country's territory, in the 23-day mission.

After the mission in the South China Sea and the East China Sea, the flotilla passed along crucial straits, including the Sunda Strait, Lombok Strait, and Makassar Strait, to enter the Indian Ocean and the West Pacific Ocean for the drill.

They returned to a military port in south China's Guangdong Province on February 11 after sailing nearly 8,000 sea miles.