The PLA at Home and Abroad - Strategic Studies Institute - U.S. Army

PLAN sent a flotilla around the world. 105 More recently,
in November 2008, China sent its navy training
ship, Zheng He, to the Vietnamese port of Tien Sa, one
of two major ports in Danang, for a 5-day visit. 106 In
May 2009, the PLAN sent its first ocean teaching-training
ship to Taiwan with a contingent of 160 students
and teachers from the Dalian Maritime University. 107
In late 2008, China took a more significant step
toward development of maritime operational capabilities,
including logistics support at sea, when it announced
it would deploy ships to the Gulf of Aden
to protect commercial ships transiting near the Horn
of Africa. 108 China announced plans to send two destroyers
(Haikou and Wuhan) and a support vessel
(Weishanhu) from the PLAN’s Hainan base near Sanya
to conduct a 4-month antipiracy mission in the Gulf
of Aden. 109 Admiral Du Jingcheng, the mission commander,
was quoted as saying: “Our primary target
is not striking but dispelling them. If the pirates make
direct threats against the warships or the vessels we
escort, the fleet will take countermeasures.” 110 Wuhan
and Haikou returned to their homeport of Yulin in
April, while Weishanhu provided support for the relieving
vessels, which had departed from South Sea
Fleet headquarters in Zhanjiang, and included the destroyer,
Shenzhen, and the frigate, Huangshan. 111
While the antipiracy mission is providing operational
experience to PLAN, its logistics operational
experience is also breaking new ground. On June 21,
2009, for example, the flotilla replenished in Port Salalah,
which was the first time that PLA Navy warships
had berthed in Oman. This was the third in-port
replenishment since the mission began in January.
Two previous replenishments were conducted in the
Port of Aden, Yemen. Fresh water, diesel, and more
587