China's navy still has far to go

A Chinese flotilla left for the Gulf of Aden and the waters off the Somali Coast in mid-July to escort merchant vessels in the pirate-ridden waters. This is the third flotilla China has dispatched to the region since the end of last year.

The move, along with the two previous ones which took place on Dec 26 last year and April 2 this year, is an explicit indication that China's naval overseas operations are no longer limited as it was, and that more and more Chinese fleets are capable of sending an array of sophisticated warships abroad.

As a follow-up naval move to the previous two, the latest expedition will not only help protect the commercial vessels, but also enable more Chinese naval servicemen to gather more knowledge about maritime operations far from the country's coastal waters. This should greatly temper their resolve in extreme conditions and thus boost their capability and skills in terms of organization, logistics and armaments.