The Chinese navy plans to showcase a stealth frigate at a key Asian defence expo this week, the first time it has had a presence at the international event in eight years.

The People’s Liberation Army Navy said on its microblog yesterday that it would send a 4,000-tonne Type 054A Jiangkai II frigate to the International Maritime Defence Exhibition (Imdex) Asia in Singapore.

The exhibition starts today. The last time China sent a similar warship to Imdex Asia was in 2007.

The announcement follows United States Secretary of State John Kerry’s visit to Beijing on the weekend, which ended with a stalemate over China’s land reclamation projects in the disputed Spratly Islands chain in the South China Sea.

… Richard Bitzinger, a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, said China wanted to underscore its status as an emerging great naval power.

“China will also want an opportunity to show off a little bit. The country is proud of its achievements in naval design and construction and there is some export potential for the ship,”Bitzinger said.