PLAN To Deploy Range Of Warships In Indian Ocean.

The People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) will deploy a range of naval vessels into the Indian Ocean region in the future, said a senior military official during a press conference on 29 January.

PLAN To Deploy Range Of Warships In Indian Ocean.

The comment by Senior Colonel Yang Yujun, a spokesperson at China's Ministry of National Defense (MND), comes against the backdrop of increased PLAN deployments to the region since it first took part in international counter-piracy efforts off Somalia in 2008. 

Since then, the PLAN has progressively expanded the frequency and type of naval vessels - the latter now to include submarines - that it sends to the Indian Ocean.

"In the future, the Chinese military will send different kinds of naval ships to take part in the naval escort missions in accordance with the situation and the requirement to fulfil the task," Col Yang told reporters.

The colonel was responding to a question on the PLAN's submarine movements in the Indian Ocean and described the service's intended deployments as "normal activities" and that "there is no need to read too much into them".

"The Chinese military has sent various kinds of naval ships to the Gulf of Aden and the waters off the Somali coast to conduct escort missions since 2008 - and in the process, we have notified relevant countries of the escort missions of the PLA naval ships, including the PLA naval submarines", said Col Yang, although he did not name.