From Disaster Relief Frontlines to South China Sea Outposts: The Chinese Military Guards Peace in Different Ways

On the morning of September 25, local time, the Navy hospital ship "Peace Ark," executing the "Harmonious Mission-2026," arrived in Dakar, the capital of Senegal, for a friendly visit and to provide medical services. This "Harmonious Mission" began on July 22, with the "Peace Ark" departing from a military port in Qingdao, Shandong. After nearly 20 days of sailing, it made a technical stop at our support base in Djibouti to provide medical treatment for the base personnel and the escort fleet. Subsequently, the "Peace Ark" conducted a 7-day friendly visit and provided medical services in Mauritania, a West African country.

The "Harmonious Mission-2026" is planned to last over 200 days, visiting multiple countries in Africa and South Asia to provide free medical services to local populations. The "Peace Ark" is staffed by over a hundred medical personnel from more than 20 units, equipped with 18 clinical departments and 5 auxiliary departments, capable of performing over 60 types of surgeries.

In Asia, another medical and joint support team from the Chinese military is also contributing its efforts. On September 23, the China-Laos "Peace Train-2026" mission successfully concluded in Vientiane, Laos. This mission included a humanitarian medical rescue joint exercise and medical services. The joint exercise lasted 7 days, focusing on "International Humanitarian Medical Rescue for Super Typhoon Disasters," establishing a three-level command and a four-level rescue system.

The participating teams from China and Laos utilized health trains, unmanned intelligent rescue equipment, and other gear to conduct on-site search and rescue, patient transport, health epidemic prevention, and psychological rescue. After the exercise, the Chinese medical team participating in this mission conducted health education, medical training, and free clinics in four locations: Vientiane, Pakse, Savannakhet, and Attapeu, serving a total of 6,275 patients.

The drills are aimed at better handling emergencies; when disasters occur, the Chinese military is always at the forefront.

On August 26 of this year, a high-altitude ice collapse on the southern slope of Mount Langtang in Nepal triggered a debris flow, causing significant loss of life and property for the border residents of China and Nepal. The Chinese military arrived at the disaster area immediately to carry out rescue operations, while also providing selfless support to the Nepalese people who were similarly affected by the disaster.

On August 30, the first batch of two Y-20 transport aircraft carrying about 50 tons of 13,200 emergency relief supplies and 4 Chinese tunnel rescue experts arrived at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu, Nepal. Subsequently, the Y-20 made four more flights over the Himalayas to deliver epidemic prevention supplies, living support items, and other aid materials along with relevant professionals to Nepal.