China will be sending a multi-warship task force across the oceans for six months, setting a record for the longest Chinese naval deployment. While the PLAN has not engaged in combat for nearly 30 years since the 1988 South China Sea skirmishes with Vietnam, it has made it a priority to display its naval might and participate in exercises to build relationships with other navies. There's plenty of historical precedence for global voyages to peacefully display naval power, the most famous being Teddy Roosevelt's dispatch of the "Great White Fleet," a 16-battleship armada that made a global tour from 1907 to 1909.