'Peace Ark' hospital ship returns to China

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'Peace Ark' hospital ship returns to China

(China Military Online) 09:32, October 15, 2013

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ZHOUSHAN, October 14 (ChinaMil) -- The "Peace Ark" hospital ship of the Navy of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLAN) returned to a military port in Zhoushan of east China's Zhejiang province on October 12, 2013, after 125 days of cruising for 21,000 nautical miles and successful accomplishment of its task of "Harmonious Mission 2013".

Ma Faxiang, deputy political commissar of the PLAN, was at the port to welcome the hospital ship on behalf of Wu Shengli, member of the Central Military Commission (CMC) of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and commander of the PLAN, and Liu Xiaojiang, political commissar of the PLAN.

Sailing out from Zhoushan in Zhejiang province on June 10, the "Peace Ark" hospital ship successively arrived in the waters off the Gulf of Aden to provide medical services for the officers and men of the escort taskforces from various countries, took part in the Humanitarian Assistance, Disaster Relief & Military Medicine Joint Exercise under the mechanism of the ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting Plus (ADMM-Plus) as well as multi-nation naval joint medical visit to Indonesia, paid visits to 8 countries including Brunei, Pakistan, Bangladesh and others, to provide medical services for the general public of these countries, and participated in the rescue activities on its return trip to rescue those fishermen in danger in the waters off the Xisha Islands.

According to the statistics, the hospital ship has successively provided physical examinations and treatment for 30,086 persons/times, and conducted 293 surgeries for officers and men from the NATO 508 Combined Task Force (CTF-508), the U.S.-led 151 Combined Task Force (CTF-151), the EU 465 Combined Task Force (CTF-465), the escort taskforce of the Republic of Korean (ROK) as well as the general public, Chinese nationals and overseas Chinese in various countries.

Wang Huayong, political commissar of the East China Sea Fleet of the PLAN, leaders from the General Logistics Department (GLD) of the PLA and related departments of the PLAN, Zhoushang municipal leaders, and representatives of officers and men as well as their dependents attended the welcoming ceremony.

（Editor：YanMeng、Yao Chun）