Official PLA English Website

Have you read the stories here yet?

Here is a sample, an interview with the deputy commander of the new Somalia task force. Not dissimilar from us, the Chinese use a lot of words to say so little.

After more than 10 days of sailing, the third Chinese naval escort taskforce entered the Indian Ocean after passing through the Taiwan Strait, the Xisha Islands, the Nansha Islands and the Strait of Malacca. It will enter into the Gulf of Aden and the waters off the Somali coast around July 30 to officially perform the escort task.

With the questions of how to do a good job in the ideological and political work during the escort and how to foster the good image of a just, civilized and peaceful force in mind, the reporter interviewed Wen Xinchao, deputy commander of the third Chinese naval escort taskforce.

According to Wen Xinchao, the escort task has strong political and foreign-related significance. To implement the guideline of “escort by law”, the command post of the taskforce organized all the officers and men to study and know well such international laws and regulations as the “United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea” and the “International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea” and relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council, familiarize themselves with the major points of the law for settlement, law handling procedures and law support measures, so as to improve their capability in handling problems by law. Meanwhile, the command post of the taskforce also focused on such education as international etiquette, local conditions and customs of the related countries and oceanic environment protection, guiding the officers and men to respect the regulations and customs of other countries during the escort.

Wen Xinchao stressed in the interview that four “ensures” should be guaranteed in the ideological and political work: to ensure that the officers and men can withstand the test of the complicated and tough environment, to ensure the smooth implementation of the escort operation, to ensure the safety of the personnel and equipment of the taskforce and to ensure to take the initiative in publicity. The ideological and political work during the escort should stick to the principle of “every thing is geared to the task”, so as to ensure the sound and healthy state of the personnel and the safe and smooth accomplishment of the escort task.

I think it is interesting that no where in the interview are they actually discussing solving the problem. In that way, it kind of reminds me of 5th Fleet to be honest.