Escort Missions in the Gulf of Aden
The Gulf of Aden is an important shipping route connecting East Asia - including China - with Western Europe and the east coast of North America, and a vital waterway for Persian Gulf oil shipped to Europe and North America.
As a responsible member of the international community, China dispatched its escort fleet on 33 sailings between 2008 and November 2019, involving a total of 106 warships, 71 helicopters and 27,000 service members, providing escorts for 6,600 Chinese and foreign vessels, in accordance with relevant UN Security Council resolutions and at the request of the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia.
China's fleet conducts escort missions in close coordination with other navies and in strict compliance with international law and UN resolutions, and provides emergency assistance to foreign merchant vessels when necessary. Over half of the vessels escorted were foreign vessels.
China's fleet has also conducted joint escort missions, joint exercises, and exchanges with more than 20 other escort fleets, including those from Russia and the US. Other activities include participation in the search for the missing Malaysian Airlines plane, emergency delivery of freshwater to the Maldives, escort missions for vessels carrying Chinese citizens evacuated from Libya, and the safe evacuation of 621 Chinese citizens and 279 nationals of 15 countries from a Yemen port where fighting was going on.
亞丁灣護航
亞丁灣是連接包括中國在內的東亞國家和西歐及北美東海岸的重要航線，又是波斯灣石油輸往歐洲和北美洲的重要水路。中國根據聯合國安理會有關決議的安排和索馬里過渡政府的請求，自2008年以來，截至2019年11月，累計向亞丁灣海域派出33批護航編隊、106艘次艦艇、71架次直升機、2.7萬余人次官兵，為6600余艘中外船舶護航，展現了中國負責任大國的擔當。護航期間，中國海軍護航官兵與各國海軍密切合作，嚴格遵守國際法有關規定和聯合國有關決議，積極為外國商船提供應急救援。在中國海軍安全護送的船舶中，一半以上是外國船舶。中國海軍護航編隊先后與俄羅斯、美國等20余個國家護航艦艇開展聯合護航、演練、交流與合作，還執行了馬航失聯航班搜救、為馬爾代夫提供淡水等緊急任務，派艦前往地中海對撤離利比亞中國公民的船舶實施護航，前往戰火紛飛的也門港口成功將621名中國公民和來自15個國家的279名外國公民安全撤離。
