"peace ark" and "peace train", the people's liberation army goes to the world for peace
2024-09-27
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photo caption: the hospital ship "peace ark" arrived in south africa on august 22 to pay a goodwill visit and provide medical services. (the paper)
our reporter guo yuandan
editor's note: during the glorious journey of the 75th anniversary of the founding of the people's republic of china, the chinese people's liberation army has always adhered to the concept of peaceful development, actively fulfilled its international responsibilities and obligations, and contributed china's strength to global public security. among them, the "peace ark" hospital ship, as a shining business card of the chinese military, has carried out the "harmony mission" series of missions many times and won high praise at home and abroad for its excellent medical services. military experts interviewed by reporters from the global times said that over the past 75 years, the people's liberation army has focused on achieving full-time service support from peacetime to wartime, and from emergency to remote all-area technical support, highlighting health maintenance, disease prevention and treatment, emergency response, telemedicine, and psychology. capacity building such as service and accompanying support, and the overall health capacity building of the military have made great progress, effectively ensuring that the pla completes diversified military tasks at home and abroad.
successfully executed the "harmony mission" ten times
the "peace ark" is the first standard ocean-going hospital ship independently designed and built by my country. it was commissioned in 2008. as of june this year, the ship has visited a total of 45 countries and regions. the flight tracks have spread all over asia, africa, europe, north america, south america, oceania, etc., and they have written touching stories of saving lives and healing the wounded across borders.
in august 2010, the hospital ship "peace ark" went to the waters of the gulf of aden and five asian and african countries including djibouti, kenya, tanzania, seychelles, and bangladesh to carry out the "harmony mission-2010" mission. this was the first time the hospital ship went abroad. medical inspection and medical service tasks. djibouti is the first stop of this mission. the "peace ark" provides free medical treatment to the local people and is praised by local cataract patients as "the messenger of light sent by god." in august 2017, after a lapse of seven years, the "peace ark" visited djibouti again. in 9 days, the hospital ship "peace ark" received a total of 7,841 overseas chinese and local people, conducted 2,535 medical examinations, completed 20 operations, and conducted 9 professional exchanges and skills training.
according to zhang xiaogang, spokesperson of the ministry of national defense, the chinese navy's "peace ark" hospital ship will carry out the "harmony mission-2024" mission from mid-june 2024 to mid-january 2025 and will go to seychelles, tanzania, madagascar, and mozambique. , south africa, angola, congo (brazzaville), gabon, cameroon, benin, mauritania, djibouti, sri lanka, visited and provided medical services to 13 countries, and also visited france and greece. this is not only the twelfth overseas mission since the "peace ark" hospital ship was commissioned, but also the tenth mission in the "harmony mission" series.
in late july this year, the "peace ark" visited tanzania for the third time and received a warm welcome from the local people. tanzania's "daily news" daily website reported that the humanitarian diagnostic and treatment services provided by the "peace ark" reflect the chinese people and military's love for peace and respect for life.
"the medical standards of the countries visited by the 'peace ark' hospital ship are generally not high, and the public's medical needs are relatively strong. however, the chinese hospital ship is a mobile tertiary hospital, and the medical staff have high medical standards and professionalism, and can it can well meet the needs of the local people," military expert zhang junshe said in an interview with the global times on the 25th.
went to the philippines for disaster relief and went to the united states for exchanges
in addition to providing international humanitarian medical services, the "peace ark" also performs tasks such as emergency medical rescue in major disasters and foreign military medical exchanges and cooperation.
on november 8, 2013, super typhoon haiyan severely damaged the philippines. on the 21st, the hospital ship "peace ark" rushed to the hardest-hit areas in the philippines to perform humanitarian medical rescue missions. this is the first time that my country has sent a ship to an overseas disaster area to perform humanitarian medical relief missions. this mission is an important operation for the chinese navy to fully implement the concept of "peace, development, cooperation, and win-win" and actively perform international humanitarian obligations. a soldier who had performed this mission recalled to a reporter from the global times that the disaster scene was very tragic and the rescue operation was very difficult. the medical staff worked hard for 16 consecutive days, treated more than 2,000 sick and injured patients, and performed 44 operations. they won the recognition of the philippine people and government and were called the "ship of life" by the local media. dana, the world health organization's regional adviser for disaster relief, praised the "peace ark" for playing a vital role in local disaster relief.
in addition, the "peace ark" also plays an important role in military diplomacy, medical exchanges and cultural propaganda. in september 2015, the "peace ark" carried out the "harmony mission" for the fifth time, visiting seven countries and regions including australia and the united states. on the morning of november 3, local time, the "peace ark" arrived in san diego, usa, and began a five-day goodwill visit to the united states. during the visit, chinese personnel visited and exchanged views with the u.s. naval health research center, the san diego veterans medical center, and the uss mercy hospital ship.
"the visit of the 'peace ark' is a process for u.s. and chinese military medical experts to exchange ideas and experiences and learn from each other. this type of exchange and learning shows that china and the united states can exchange and learn in areas of common interest, which can bring benefits to both parties the benefits are obvious," said lieutenant colonel ryan perry, then spokesman for the u.s. third fleet.
in this regard, zhang junshe said that as a warship, the "peace ark" hospital ship not only carries out humanitarian rescue and medical services, but also visits and exchanges with military medical institutions in other countries. when the "peace ark" visits the united states and other countries, in addition to mutual business exchanges, this kind of military and diplomatic activities can also enhance mutual understanding and better demonstrate the image of the chinese military as a mighty and civilized force.
according to reports, the chinese navy's new ocean-going hospital ship "silk road ark" has successfully completed its medical inspection mission to xisha and south china's coastal islands. this shows that china's second 10,000-ton hospital ship has been officially commissioned and has the ability to perform tasks. in the future, the chinese navy will have more capabilities to provide international humanitarian medical services.
in addition to the "peace ark", there is also the "peace train" medical team
in addition to the chinese navy's "peace ark" hospital ship, there is also a "peace train" medical team on land that provides medical services across borders. in july 2017, the medical team went abroad for the first time and carried out medical services in vientiane, the capital of laos, and luang namtha province in the north.
since then, in 2018 and 2019, the "peace train" medical team has continued to bring high-quality medical services to the lao military and civilians, providing free clinics, physical examinations, surgeries and other services to lao government officials, soldiers, military families and local people.
in late july 2022, the china-laos "peace train-2022" humanitarian medical rescue joint exercise and medical service activities were launched in penghong, laos. this is the first time that the chinese military's health train has been deployed overseas. it is also the first practice of connecting the health train with secondary hospitals and combining medical treatment with epidemic prevention and control. in this regard, the deputy minister of defense of laos said that this is the fourth time that the chinese "peace train" medical team has come to laos. previous "peace train" activities have achieved great results and far-reaching influence. he believes that this event will further deepen the friendship between the two countries and strengthen cooperation between the two militaries.
in addition to the "peace train" medical team, the people's liberation army's "peace angel" medical team will carry out medical services in cambodia in 2023. during the two-day medical service activity, the "peace angel" medical team provided medical services in phnom penh and siem reap. more than 1,800 cambodian soldiers and civilians received free medical treatment.
it is not difficult to find that peace has become the most eye-catching symbol of the pla's overseas medical services. according to zhang junshe, whether it is the "peace ark" hospital ship or the "peace train" and "peace angel" and other medical teams, this series of humanitarian medical rescue operations and medical services show that the chinese military is doing its best to contribute to the development of asia, africa and latin america. provide services to the people of the country. "moreover, this kind of public product has been warmly welcomed by the local people, and has truly helped the local people and solved the illnesses that plagued them. this is the highest praise the people's liberation army has received."
in addition, since 2014, china has sent 10 groups of military medical experts to ethiopia to perform medical assistance tasks. in addition to ethiopia, the people's liberation army has also organized medical teams such as the sierra leone medical team and the liberian medical team. chinese soldiers went overseas to fight against ebola at the most dangerous time, demonstrating the heroic nature of chinese soldiers' love and responsibility. after the ebola virus was discovered, it was quickly recognized as one of the viruses with the highest biosafety level due to its extremely high contagiousness and lethality. in september 2014, the first batch of 30 members of the people's liberation army's medical team to assist sierra leone took off from the capital airport on a special plane and traveled westward across three continents and two oceans. ten years have passed. on may 16 this year, the tenth batch of china’s military medical expert team to aid ethiopia set off to addis ababa, the capital of ethiopia, to carry out a one-year medical assistance mission.
so far, 10 batches of military medical expert teams aiding egypt have conducted more than 2,000 local surgeries, treated more than 1,700 critically ill patients, trained more than 380 local medical staff, and organized more than 170 teaching lectures. shevaye haier, director of the ethiopian national defense force high-tech hospital, said that china's dispatch of a military medical expert team to provide medical assistance to ethiopia reflects china's determination to strengthen cooperation with ethiopia in medical and health services.
zhang junshe believes that with the continuous improvement of the country's economic strength and overall medical level, the pla's medical and health construction has undergone earth-shaking changes in the past 75 years, and the medical level and support capabilities have been greatly improved. "as a military committed to maintaining peace, the chinese military has always faithfully implemented the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind, actively fulfilled the international responsibilities of the military of a major power, and strived to provide more public security products to the international community." ▲
