Chinese Navy escorted over 3,000 merchant vessels in Gulf of Aden

The Chinese Navy has escorted more than 3,000 merchant vessels, including 1,400 foreign ships, over the past two years since the beginning of its escort missions in the Gulf of Aden, said Yin Zhuo, director of the Chinese Navy Advisory Committee for Informatization and member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee, on March 9.

He noted that the Chinese naval escort fleet successfully stopped all of the hijacking attempts from pirates and fought off many pirate attacks in its designated areas.

Citing the recent evacuation of Chinese nationals in Libya, Yin demonstrated that Chinese forces are experiencing their mission change and diversify within the context of a new era. For example, it now encompasses escorting vessels, protecting and evacuating overseas Chinese citizens as well as protecting overseas assets.

The forces’ major tasks in the past were to get battle victories, to respond to wars and to protect national security. Now, he said, with the ascending of Chinese economic power, safeguarding the national economic interest has become one of the prominent factors driving development of the armed forces.

Yin noted that it is indeed very expensive to undertake escort missions in the Gulf of Aden, but this high maintenance cost is worthwhile. This sea route, accounting for 3 trillion U.S. dollars of foreign trade and nearly 1 trillion U.S. dollars of marine logistics as well as carrying more than 50 percent of the total oil and energy imports, is of great importance to China’s national economic development.

By Li Yancheng, People's Daily Online

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