Chinese navy wraps up escort mission for Syria's chemical weapons

The Joint Mission of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and the United Nations (UN) made a statement on June 23, 2014, confirming that the last batch of raw materials of chemical weapons declared by the government of Syria had been shipped out of Syria on the same day, and expressing thanks to China, Denmark, Norway, Russia, Britain and the US for their huge support and professional consciousness.

This marks that the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) has successfully concluded the escort mission for shipping Syria's chemical weapons.

It is the first time for China to provide marine transport support for the destruction of chemical weapons, and the first time for the Chinese navy to take joint actions with the navies of Russia, Denmark, Norway and other countries in the Mediterranean Sea.

During the entire mission period, the Chinese navy assigned successively two warships to perform 20 joint escort missions with the warships of Russia, Denmark and Norway, which lasted for 174 days.

The guided missile frigate "Yancheng" of the Chinese navy, which was performing the 16th escort mission in the Gulf of Aden, set sail from the Jeddah Port of Saudi Arabia on December 31, 2013, navigated for about one thousand sea miles to reach the Mediterranean Sea, and finished 7 escort missions.

The guided missile frigate "Huangshan" of the Chinese navy set sail from Zhanjiang of Guangdong province on February 17, 2014, arrived in the designated sea area on March 8, 2014 to complete the mission handover, and successively performed 13 escort missions.

During the mission period, the Chinese navy maintained close communication with other parties participating in the mission, worked in coordination with navies of other countries, organized carefully escort actions, and ensured safety of the chemical weapon carrier and itself, winning widespread acclaim at home and abroad.