The People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) of China deployed a task force of six warships to the Middle East over the past week, including two advanced guided missile destroyers.
Chinese state media on Monday insisted the deployment was routine and unconnected to the war between Israel and the Hamas terrorist organization.
The South China Morning Post (SCMP) described the Chinese flotilla as containing elements of two different PLAN task groups, one of which has been conducting “routine operations” in the Middle East in recent visits to Kuwait and Oman.
The newly arrived ships are from the PLAN Eastern Theater command and include the Zibo and Urumqi, two of China’s most advanced guided-missile destroyers, plus a brand-new frigate called the Linyi.
The SCMP noted that China is now keeping six warships active in the Middle East at the same time that two American carrier groups are converging in the region, with another command ship on the way. The PLAN might want to have some of its own assets in the area to give it leverage if the U.S. enters hostilities on behalf of Israel or against Iran, a junior partner in China’s global axis of tyranny.
The SCMP also noted that Chinese ships of the same type have been involved in evacuation operations from hotspots like Sudan and Yemen, so China might be preparing to evacuate its citizens from Israel, Gaza, and the surrounding region.
China’s state-run Global Times on Monday insisted the deployment of warships was “part of the country’s routine escort mission and friendly visits to the region, not an interference in the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
A spokesman from the Chinese embassy in the United States, Liu Penguy, irritably demanded an end to “groundless hyping” of the PLAN’s moves by foreign media organizations, which are supposedly convinced the six Chinese warships are intended to counter the two American carrier battle groups entering the region.
The Global Times also quoted China’s embassy to Israel, which said on Friday that China has “no immediate plans to evacuate its citizens.” The embassy noted those who wish to depart can use commercial flights that are still departing from Tel Aviv to China twice a week.
“At first, those foreign media and Western politicians accused China of not condemning Hamas, now they are distorting China’s routine military operations in the region. These are all tactics they use to embroil China deeper into the conflict and smear Beijing’s role in negotiations on the crisis,” professor of Middle Eastern studies Ding Long from Shanghai International Studies University complained to the Global Times.
Chinese media are making a much bigger deal about the six PLAN warships in the Middle East than foreign media organizations, which have barely noticed the movement of China’s ships and generally seem to assume they are on standby to assist with evacuations if needed.
Israel’s Ynet News on Saturday chided the SCMP — and, implicitly, Israeli social media users panicked by its coverage — for being the only major media organization that seemed interested in the Chinese warships in the Middle East, noting that China’s ships have a fraction of the firepower possessed by U.S. carrier groups, and they were all plausibly engaged in diplomatic and anti-piracy missions before Hamas attacked Israel.
“Stay calm, the Chinese aren’t storming Israel’s beaches just yet,” Ynet concluded.
China’s tightly controlled media organizations are probably making a fuss about the fuss American media organizations are not really making because they want to draw a contrast between the modest and prudent PLAN and the heavy-handed Americans rolling into the conflict zone with two carrier battle groups.
“China’s push for a ceasefire and humanitarian relief in the Gaza Strip has resonated among the international community, while the U.S.’ fueling the conflict and failure to curb Israel’s instinct for revenge is frustrating international efforts to de-escalate the war,” Ding grumbled to the Global Times, pushing the Chinese Communist Party line.