The Ministry of National Defense (MND) denied foreign reports that China dispatched a destroyer to Syria to join the naval drill there, the Global Times reported Tuesday.

According to ynetnews.com, the Egyptian daily Al-Shuruk reported Sunday that a Chinese destroyer sailed through the Suez Canal in Egypt into the Mediterranean Sea, and that the destroyer could be heading for the Syrian coast where four countries including China and Syria are reportedly holding naval military drills.

China's MND denied the report, clarifying that the missile destroyer Qingdao was on its way to the Ukraine and not participation in the military drills, in a written reply to the question from the Chinese edition of Global Times on Sunday.

Song Xiaojun, a Beijing-based military expert, explained that all kinds of weird speculations are made over the normal visits of Chinese warships, as China does not stand with the Western countries over the Syrian issue.

The Iranian news agency Fars reported in June that China, Syria, Russia and Iran would hold a joint military drill, but the Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei denied the report, as did Russia and Syria, according to Xinhua.