Supply hub to aid peace missions

China is building an overseas supply facility to better fulfill its international responsibilities and duties and to protect China's rightful interests, and not for military expansion, Defense Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun said on Wednesday.

The construction of China's first supply facility in Djibouti is going smoothly, Yang said. The supply facility will be used for replenishing Chinese Navy ships taking part in peacekeeping and humanitarian missions in the Gulf of Aden and waters off Somalia, he said.

Yang's remarks follow a visit to the Djibouti facility by Fan Changlong, vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China, during a two-day visit to the country last week.