Station looks beyond anti-piracy mission

China would not have thought of establishing a logistic supply station in Djibouti were it not for fighting piracy off the coast of Somalia. As the country contributing the largest force to the counter-piracy mission, China has had at least three ships in the Gulf of Aden at any given time since 2009. So far 65 ships from the People's Liberation Army Navy's 22 task forces have been deployed on counter-piracy missions, and they have escorted more than 6,100 ships, half of them foreign vessels.

These achievements have been made under stringent conditions, however. Since the PLA Navy vessels have no supply or maintenance stations overseas, they have to carry huge amounts of food and spare parts, prompting some Chinese Navy personnel to say the spare parts are more than enough to assemble a helicopter on board.

Piracy off the coast of Somalia has been largely curbed thanks to joint international efforts which includes, but is not limited to, military operations. But nobody can safely conclude piracy is no longer a threat.