At the noon on February 27, local time, 31 Chinese and foreign merchant ships pushed into the Mandeb Strait smoothly, symbolizing the accomplishment of the 172nd batch of the escort task of the Chinese naval escort taskforce. The reporters learned from the command post of the taskforce that this was also the voyage with the most escorted merchant ships in a single journey since the Chinese naval escort taskforce came to the Gulf of Aden and the waters off the Somali coast to implement the escort operations more than one year ago.

　　This escort task is co-implemented by the “Ma’anshan” missile destroyer and the “Qiandaohu” comprehensive supply ship through the combination of accompanied escort and onboard guard. The merchant ships escorted were from 14 countries, including China, Singapore, Norway and Liberia.

　　In light of the large number of merchant ships escorted and the frequent activities of the pirates in the Gulf of Aden and the waters off the Somali coast recently, to ensure the safety of the escorted merchant ships, the Chinese naval escort taskforce dispatched 20 special operation members in total to implement the onboard guard task and called out the ship-board helicopter to strengthen patrol and vigilance for many times. It especially strengthened the observation and watch at night to ensure the all-round control of the surrounding sea area.

　　During navigation, the Chinese naval escort taskforce dispatched the ship-board helicopter to successfully dispel more than 100 suspicious boats of a multiple of batches/times which attempted to approach the escorted merchant ships.

　　By Xu Yeqing and Li Yibao