Chinese Navy Contributes to International Maritime Security Cooperation ~ ASIAN DEFENCE

Friday, December 25, 2009

Chinese Navy Contributes to International Maritime Security Cooperation

9:31 AM ASIAN DEFENCE No comments

On the afternoon of December 26, 2008, the Chinese naval escort taskforce consisting of the “Wuhan” guided-missile destroyer, the “Haikou” guided-missile destroyer and the “Weishanhu” comprehensive supply ship set sail from the port city of Sanya, South China’s Hainan Province for the Gulf of Aden and the waters off the Somali coast to implement escort mission. (Photo by Wang Xinli)　　

By Ma Haiyan

December 26, 2009 is the first anniversary of the Chinese Navy’s participation in the escort action in the Gulf of Aden and the waters off the Somalia coast.During the past year, 4 taskforces and 11 warships of the Navy of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) implemented escort missions in the above-mentioned waters with a record of 10,000-odd navigation hours and a voyage of 100,000-odd nautical miles in the aggregate.

The four taskforces escorted nearly 1,000 merchant ships of over 100 batches, rescued a multiple of foreign merchant ships, founded out about 1,000 suspected vessels, verified and dispelled by warning several hundreds of pirate vessels, realizing “100% safety of the escorted merchant ships and 100% safety of the taskforces themselves.”

Cao Weidong, researcher of the Military Academic Research Institute of the PLA Navy, said when receiving the interview of the reporter with the China News Service that the escort action of the PLA Navy was a successful practice of the PLA in performing military operations other than war (MOOTW).

30 years ago, no PLA Navy warship could be seen on the ocean. But now, the modern warships of the PLA Navy sail to the ocean and implement operations at the blue sea.

According to Cao Weidong, the PLA Navy’s participation in the escort mission in the Gulf of Aden and the waters off the Somalia coast has testified once again to the world that the PLA Navy is an important force in maintaining world peace and promoting common development. The escort action of the PLA Navy has made contributions to carrying out maritime security cooperation and protecting the security of important maritime passage and regional stability.