CHINA is sending its navy's Peace Ark hospital ship on a tour of the South Pacific at a time of growing competition with the United States and its allies for influence in the region, reports Aljazeera
CHINA is sending its navy's Peace Ark hospital ship on a tour of the South Pacific at a time of growing competition with the United States and its allies for influence in the region, reports Aljazeera. The 14,300-tonne ship will call at Kiribati, Tonga, Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands and East Timor, providing medical assistance to Chinese citizens as well as residents, the defence ministry said.
The ship, painted white with red crosses on its sides, employs more than 100 medical staff in 16 different clinical and auxiliary departments, and can handle as many as 1,000 patients at a time.
There are multiple operating rooms and nursing stations, as well as a blood bank, according to the state-run China Daily.
Beijing has been building closer ties with countries in the Pacific in recent years, some of which once had formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, causing concern in the US, Australia and New Zealand, but also within some of the countries themselves.
China signed a security pact with the Solomon Islands last year and hopes to build similar ties with other Pacific countries. Its foreign minister has said relations with the Solomon Islands can serve as a model.
Last year, US President Joe Biden invited Pacific leaders to an unprecedented summit at the White House, pledging to triple funding for the region.
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