By Guan Lei and Xiao Delun (China Military Online)
The¬†13th¬†and¬†14th¬†escort¬†taskforces¬†under¬†the¬†Navy¬†of¬†the¬†Chinese¬†People’sLiberation¬†Army¬†(PLA)¬†held¬†an¬†escort¬†mission-handover¬†ceremony¬†in¬†western¬†waters¬†ofthe¬†Gulf¬†of¬†Aden¬†on¬†March¬†13, 2013,¬†local¬†time.¬†Before¬†the¬†ceremony,¬†the¬†14thChinese¬†naval¬†escort¬†taskforce¬†had¬†arrived¬†at¬†the¬†Gulf¬†of¬†Aden¬†and¬†the¬†waters¬†off¬†theSomali¬†coast.
At the ceremony, the command post of the 13th escort taskforce transferreddocuments, equipment and spares relating to escort mission to its counterpart of the14th escort taskforce and detailed to the successor the current situation of piracy in theGulf of Aden and the waters off the Somali coast.
The two sides also exchanged views on open-sea training, political work, logistics andequipment support and cooperation with foreign naval escort troops, etc.
Since¬†setting¬†sail¬†from¬†a¬†military¬†port¬†in¬†Zhanjiang¬†of¬†south¬†China’s¬†Guangdongprovince¬†on¬†November¬†9, 2012,¬†the¬†13th¬†Chinese¬†naval¬†escort¬†taskforce¬†composed¬†oftwo¬†missile¬†frigates¬†”Huangshan”¬†and¬†”Hengyang”¬†and¬†the¬†comprehensive¬†supply¬†ship”Qinghaihu”¬†has¬†accomplished¬†escort¬†missions¬†for¬†a¬†total¬†of¬†161¬†Chinese¬†and¬†foreignships¬†in¬†36¬†batches¬†while¬†ensuring¬†100¬†percent¬†safety¬†of¬†its¬†own¬†and¬†the¬†escortedships.
According to sources, the two taskforces will carry out five-day-long joint escortmissions in two batches before separation.
Via: http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/
