Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, December 26 (Xinhua) -- Escort for you -- written on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of the Chinese Navy's escort to the Gulf of Aden and Somali waters
Li Yun, Mo Xiaoliang, Sun Fei
"I am a Chinese Navy escort formation, if you need help, please call me on channel 16. This announcement, which was broadcast in both Chinese and English, has been echoing in the Gulf of Aden and Somali waters for 15 years.
The 23rd batch of ships of the Chinese Navy's escort group sails to replenish the ship on April 25, 2016. Xinhua News Agency (photo by Qian Hong)
On December 26, 2008, the Chinese Navy dispatched an escort group to the Gulf of Aden and Somali waters for the first time. Over the past 15 years, the Chinese Navy has successively dispatched 45 escort squadrons, more than 150 ships and more than 35,000 officers and men to carry out escort missions, and safely escorted more than 1,600 batches of 7,200 Chinese and foreign ships, including 12 World Food Programme vessels.
North of Socotra Island and at the southern mouth of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait is the rendezvous point between the escort ships of the Chinese Navy and the escorted vessels, hundreds of nautical miles apart. For many years, the Chinese Navy's escort formations have mainly sailed continuously between these two points, day and night, escorting Chinese and foreign ships.
The 26th escort group of the Chinese Navy sails through the Suez Canal on September 2, 2017. Xinhua News Agency (photo by Lin Jian)
The 44th batch of escort missions was the fifth escort mission attended by Ma Liang, the captain of the Jingzhou ship. When he first went on a convoy mission in 2009, pirates in the Gulf of Aden appeared almost a few times a month. Today, merchant ships in the Gulf of Aden are still busy, but pirates are becoming rarer.
In recent years, the sea areas of piracy, the targets and the methods of attack have been constantly changing, and the naval escort squadron has continuously improved and innovated the mode of escort organization and command.
The escort area is constantly expanding. Each batch of formations will extend the escort area for hundreds or even thousands of nautical miles according to the meteorological characteristics of the sea area and the situation of piracy activities to ensure the safety of the escorted ships.
The 35th batch of the Chinese Navy's escort squadron conducts targeted anti-piracy training on May 2, 2020. Xinhua News Agency (photo by Jiang Xia)
In June 2009, the second escort group of Huangshan ships escorted ships into the Bab el-Mandeb Strait for the first time and successfully drove away pirate ships.
In May 2017, the 26th batch of escort ships in Yangzhou sent special combat personnel to provide on-board escort for the mainland oceanographic research ship "Xiangyanghong 10" to carry out marine scientific research in the northwest Indian Ocean area.
Members of the Yueyang special combat team of the 40th batch of escort formations of the Chinese Navy observe and guard during the escort (photo taken on April 2, 2022). Xinhua News Agency (photo by Tang Wen)
The escort model is constantly innovating. From accompanying escorts, relay escorts, regional escorts, and extended escorts, to intercepting external forces by ships, verifying and driving away small boats, deterring helicopters in the air, and rescuing special combat personnel by force, to the integrated coordination of ships, boats, and aircraft, we have flexibly innovated methods to optimize the efficiency of the use of troops in light of the different characteristics of the use of troops.
Since the establishment of the People's Navy, escort missions in the Gulf of Aden and Somali waters have become a major military practice in which the People's Navy has safeguarded national strategic interests overseas and fulfilled the responsibilities and obligations of major countries.
In addition to escorting ships, it also conducts regular joint exercises with foreign navies, sends officers to observe each other, and conducts joint escort, anti-piracy, and international humanitarian rescue drills with escort ships of dozens of countries.
The escorted Chinese distant-water fishing vessel Haixin 29 hangs banners with the words "Long live the motherland" and "Long live the People's Navy" (photo taken on June 4, 2022). Xinhua News Agency (photo by Yang Jie)
Since the third batch of escort formations launched the "Peace Blue Shield-2009" joint exercise with the Russian Navy, the Chinese Navy has taken the escort as an opportunity to gradually establish a new mechanism for organizing friendly visits and participating in Sino-foreign joint exercises in conjunction with the escort group, and actively exchanges and cooperation with foreign militaries.
Many warships have participated in escorts, visits, and joint exercises more than once. The escort opened a window and showed the world that the Chinese Navy is a force for peace.
In the spring of 2011, the 7th batch of escort ships in Xuzhou successfully completed the escort mission for the evacuation of our personnel in Libya. This is the first time that a Chinese warship has been involved in the evacuation of civilians in a humanitarian crisis.
The escorted ship hoisted a banner reading "Thank you to the Motherland Navy for escorting" and waved to the 42nd batch of escort formations of the Chinese Navy (photo taken on November 5, 2022). Xinhua News Agency (photo by Ma Yubin)
In the spring of 2015, when the Yemeni civil war broke out, the 19th escort group rushed to Yemen to evacuate 683 Chinese compatriots and 279 foreign citizens from 15 countries in five batches.
In April 2023, the 43rd batch of escort ships Nanning and Weishanhu ships urgently went to Sudan to evacuate overseas Chinese. In addition to 272 Chinese citizens, the second batch of evacuees also includes 221 people from Pakistan, Brazil and other countries.
Over the past 15 years, no matter how the ships, personnel, and modes have changed, the Chinese Navy's original intention of maintaining regional security and stability has never changed. Many foreign merchant ships have even sailed in from the "International Recommended Corridor" to apply to join the Chinese Navy's escort team in search of protection.
The Urumqi and Dongpinghu ships of the 45th batch of escort formations of the Chinese Navy escort Chinese fishing boats (photo taken on October 20, 2023). Xinhua News Agency (photo by Wang Yuanfang)
With the rapid development of the naval equipment system, the number of ocean-going supply ships has increased significantly, and the performance has also been improved a lot, along with the continuous upgrading of support capabilities. Nowadays, with the blessing of science and technology and equipment, even if the combat ship does not dock, it can basically achieve "seeing green every day and having food every day".
In the Gulf of Aden and the waters off Somalia, there are few earth-shattering artillery fires, but thrilling battles are common. The test of ocean escort is longer than the voyage. In the Gulf of Aden and Somali waters, where there are many sails, more than 5,400 days of fighting the wind and waves, 45 groups of escort formations relay guarding, and the Chinese Navy escort formation, flying the five-star red flag, wrote a shining "Chinese answer sheet" on the deep blue waterway.