BEIJING, Jan. 8 -- The transportation of the chemical weapons out of Syria in a timely and fast manner will help the destruction process, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Wednesday.

Her comments came after a Danish vessel, which took chemicals from two sites in Syria, left the western Syrian port of Latakia on Tuesday, a week after the Dec. 31 deadline of shipping the most critical chemicals out of the country.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons Director-General Ahmet Uzumcu welcomed the progress, hailing it as "an important step".

Chinese frigate Yancheng also entered the territorial waters of Syria on Tuesday and is in close coordination with naval vessels from Russia, Denmark and Norway, in escorting the transport of the chemical weapons.

"China will continue to work with other parties to ensure the secure and smooth transport of the weapons," Hua told a daily news briefing.

The deadline for destroying Syria's entire chemical weapons program is June 30.