Electronic intelligence can be gathered even if the ships are in Chinese ports. The SSF bases are just a blink away from some of the world's busiest sea lanes.
If you're always trying to hide, you're not going to gain training and experience.
I'm pretty sure some measures will be taken to hide certain signals or not to use them at all.
China’s first major naval mission abroad, will include destroyers Haikou and Wuhan as well as a large supply ship, said Rear Adm. Xiao Xinnian, Deputy Chief of Staff of the People’s Liberation Army Navy.
-Navytimes.com
again I will save the translation, since the pictures are worth a thousand words
These are pics of the spec-op team that will accompany the task force.