China’s war-like logistics of Libya evacuation are world-class.

[Speeder 2]

China’s war-like logistics of Libya evacuation is world-class.


To win a war, one needs not only world-class frontline weapons, but also world-class logistics.

China’s swift evacuation of her overseas citizens in Libya is a classic example of what China is capable of during a war.

From reaction of Libya’s domestic politics, to evacuation plan drawing, to flexibilities of decision-making of all levels, and logistic supports at key intersections, this ongoing China’s evacuation story is world-class so far.


Here I only raise some details on what I’ve read here and there these several days to support my above views:


Swift decision at the top level: Hu/Wen made a swift decision to evacuate with their full support even though many countries (even the US) were still in hesitation.

Flexibilities in planning: they were correct in their judgement that Tripoli airport is the least effective due to its small size and landing clearance. Hence the plan is to evacuate through land, sea particularly.

Timely execution of the plan: Chinese embassies in nearby countries (Tunisia, Egypt, Malta, Greece), have arranged large sized ferries and buses at borders at the earliest time possible, with a newly sent 054-A Frigate arriving to safeguard the sea route.

Clear priority: women and children went for planes mainly; large amount of workers have been self-assigned to 50 persons/group moving all the time together - wait for rescue, travel and abroad… – it does take a high degree of discipline for those ordinary men/women to execute that under such a chaotic situation! Those are typical Chinese migrant workers mainly from Central and Northern China.

World class logistics: here I have to bring embassy and overseas Chinese in Greece as a fine example. A south European tourism economy such as Greece is at the moment at low season with many hotels/hostels closed. Yet China’s embassy in Greece has managed to arrange 12 big sea-front hotels , all at least 4 Stars, some being 5 Stars , securing 6,500 beds, in Greek island of Crete where the Chinese evacuees go to, together with bus transport between the seaport to different hotel sites. They negotiated at the earlier time with hotel owners on pricing issues given the trouble that many of them were closed due to low season.

That’s not all. Overseas Chinese Commercial Association in Greece has offered a great assistance without being asked: the head of Association was in China on vacation at the time when he heard about the Libya news. What he did? He immediately returned to Greece, contacted Embassy, arranged more than 2 dozens local overseas Chinese volunteers flying to Crete Island with a large amount of Telephone Cards, daily medicines, popular Chinese snags, helping linguistics issues between hotels and Chinese evacuees who have been transported to those 4 –star sea front hotels, which have enough capability to host continuous streams of Chinese evacuees up to 15,000. All hotels have at least 1 local overseas Chinese voluteers on site to coordinate linguistics issues until the ongoing evacuation is finished…


( above photo: Mr. Xu , the director of Overseas Chinese Commercial Association in Greece, is distributing free phone cards to Chinese evacuees at Cactus Royal , a 5 star hotel, in Crete Island, Greece)

The similar scene is repeated now in Malta where more than 2000 Chinese just arrived via ferry. May I dare to recommend them a big Chinese restaurant in Malta – called “China House” ha ha. It was the only Chinese restaurant in the tiny island at least when I was there years ago. It serves excellent Fried Noodles with 3 Delicacies ( shrimps, beef , chicken, with veggies) and good Peking Ducks.

So here we are today when citizens of many other countries are still trapped in Libya war zone, there are about 16,000 Chinese (most of them are ordinary workers for Chinese companies in Libya) already being evacuated via sea and land so far, majority of them currently based in Crete 4 star hotels:

--2 of them share a hotel room there;

--standard self-service breakfast/lunch/dinner from the hotel;

--every one has a free telephone card distributed by Overseas Chinese Commercial Association in Greece to call home in China to the loved ones;

--everyone who are wounded were sent to local hospitals.

--They are enjoying at the moment free sea front hotel swimming pools ( and Spa too I wonder), many of them saying that these are the best Hotels they’ve ever stayed…



The whole accurate planning, swift execution and almost perfect logistics after the evacuation by China are awe-inspiring. I am sure this dress-rehearsal of large scale overseas Chinese rescue is an invaluable experience for the future should the need arise.

Similarly through this event, I have no doubt in my mind that China’ war-planning capability is world-class.

 

[CardSharp]

Excellent composite article. Thanks.

 

[lcloo]

Giving a telephone card to everyone is very touching, a call back home will bring peace of mind to the family and loved ones. Very thoughtful orderly and timely execution of plan.

 

[us1956]

thank you China for taking her people out of the harm way

 

[marshall]

Excellent investigation, although I think the subject title is inappropriate. Saying this is...

"China’s war-like logistics of Libya evacuation is world-class"

...is like saying...

"China's war-like earthquake relief is world-class"
"China's war-like drought relief is world-class"
etc.

 

[no_name]

CDF OpEd: China's Evacuation from Libya
By Mr. Unknown.

China’s ongoing evacuation of its citizens from a chaotic Libya is starting to draw close scrutiny from pundits, due to the PLAN’s use of a 054A class Frigate (Xuzhou, FFG-530) amongst other civilian means of evacuation. Unsurprisingly, we can leave it to some media outlets to exaggerate this action into nothing less than old school imperialist “gunboat diplomacy”.

A not-so-subtle proclamation of China’s “menacing” display of naval power came from the Council on Foreign Relation’s (CFR) Elliot Abrams, who wrote the following on the CFR blog, (here)

“In recent days, the White House has been saying that the United States had to watch its words and actions because American citizens were at risk in Libya. So instead of acting, we are building a diplomatic coalition. China has taken a different tack: to use power. Instead of biting their tongue, the Chinese appear to be making it clear to the Qadhafi regime that no danger to Chinese workers will be tolerated.”


A even more provocative article titled “China Fills Libya Power Void” appeared on the website of Investor’s Business Daily, which compared China’s supposed “assertiveness” to “US inaction”,

“Up until now, the conventional thinking from the Tom Friedman crowd claims that China is somehow engaged in a new model of commercial engagement abroad, quite unlike the old empires of the past that projected military power. That theory is out the window now with this naval action. China will defend its own, same as any other empire.”

The IBD article (here) went on to argue that:

“China's assertiveness in the Libyan crisis stands in contrast to that of the U.S. By the time we found a vessel to ferry a mere 600 nationals out of the country, the Chinese had already transported 12,000 of its people to Crete… China is setting a precedent with its newfound show of force.”


Instead of “praising” China’s “new-found assertiveness”, perhaps the authors should have asked why was the PLAN able to sail into Libya with impunity? And why neither the rebels nor the Libyan government questioned whether China has ulterior motives other than ferrying its citizens away from the cross-fire? The correct answer is NOT China’s determined “show of force” or “power projection”, but its record of restrained and infrequent use of force, coupled with its consistent policy of non-interference in the internal affairs of other states. Having built up its “street-cred” in Africa as a non-intrusive business partner, China provoked no suspicions from either side of the Libyan upheaval on the rare occasion that it used military assets as part of the evacuation.

The authors of the aforementioned articles have drawn precisely the opposite conclusion that should have been reached. China’s relatively smooth evacuation vis-a-vis US awkwardness represents NOT the need for aggressive intervention, but rather the power of restraint surmounting that of forceful coercion.

http://china-defense.blogspot.com/2011/02/cdd-oped.html

 

[CardSharp]

CDF OpEd: China's Evacuation from Libya
By Mr. Unknown.
China Defense Blog

Geez we send a warship (who was formerly on a coalition anti-piracy mission at the time) to make sure our nationals are evacuated and they scream gunboat diplomacy?

 

[tanlixiang28776]

Geez we send a warship (who was formerly on a coalition anti-piracy mission at the time) to make sure our nationals are evacuated and they scream gunboat diplomacy?

Is that a surprise to you? This is the same kind of people who call Chinese doing business in Africa Colonialists..

 

[CardSharp]

Is that a surprise to you? This is the same kind of people who call Chinese doing business in Africa Colonialists..

I think it says more about their views than ours, after all people view the actions of others through the lens of their own experience.

 

[StingRoy]

Nice to see that the Chinese workers were evacuated in an organized way... but the article sounded too much like an advertisement.

Hope they all reach mainland safely.

 

[CardSharp]

Nice to see that the Chinese workers were evacuated in an organized way... but the article sounded too much like an advertisement.

Hope they all reach mainland safely.

All verifiable fact no?

 

[StingRoy]

All verifiable fact no?

Yeah of course... not denying anything on the facts stated by the article.... but rather the writing style.
Btw where was this posted. Could not find a link in the post.

 

[CardSharp]

Yeah of course... not denying anything on the facts stated by the article.... but rather the writing style.
Btw where was this posted. Could not find a link in the post.

Original composition

Here I only raise some details on what I’ve read here and there these several days to support my above views:

 

[SomeGuy]

Geez we send a warship (who was formerly on a coalition anti-piracy mission at the time) to make sure our nationals are evacuated and they scream gunboat diplomacy?

That's right.

Even Britain is sending a Royal Navy frigate and Military Transports accompanied by SAS to airlift citizens out of the desert, and the only criticism is not about imperialism or a show of force, but how much the government dithered.

 

[Joe Shearer]

Excellent composite article. Thanks.

A truly outstanding illustration of how autocracy and dictatorship wins over democracy every time. While China has moved swiftly and effectively, we have the sad case of our own country, with only one-third (18,000) the number of people in Libya that China had, not being able to do anything.

Congratulations to the Chinese leadership on taking swift and decisive action while the rest of the world slept, or wrung its hands. An ordinary Indian is disappointed to read what his own government has done, when faced by the same crisis; a short account is appended below.

First batch of Indians from Libya return

Press Trust Of India

New Delhi, February 27, 2011


First Published: 01:25 IST(27/2/2011)
Last Updated: 01:27 IST(27/2/2011)

Launching the evacuation of Indians from trouble-torn Libya, an Air India flight carrying the first batch of 291 people from Tripoli landed here late tonight even as 67 Indians crossed over to Egypt by road and were taken to Cairo on their way back home. The Air India Boeing carrying the 291 people touched down at the Indira Gandhi International Airport shortly before midnight after a nearly 8-hour flight from the Libyan capital.

The plane landed at the dysfunctional T2 International terminal where special arrangements were made for immigration and customs clearances of the passengers.

Minister of State for External Affairs E Aahmed and Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao received the passengers who were helped by Resident Commissioners of 12 states, including Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and officials of External Affairs and Overseas Indian Affairs Ministries at the terminal which was made functional in just two days.

Special railway and air ticket counters were set up at the terminal to help the returnees book their onward journey.

The Boeing flight carrying the Indian nationals from Libya took off at 4.10 PM (Indian Time).

An Air India Airbus 330 with a capacity of 300 also left the Libyan capital at 8.15 PM (Indian time) for New Delhi where it is expected to reach Delhi at around 3AM on Sunday.

The total number of Indians in Libya is estimated to be 18,000.

As the first plane carrying the Indians left Tripoli, a group of 67 Indians, including 11 children and 2 infants, crossed over from Tabrouk, Libya, to Salloum, Egypt, by road where they were received by Indian Embassy officials who facilitated their immigration into Egypt.

Emergency travel documents were issued to 11 Indians who reached Salloum by road without passports.

The 67 people were taken by two buses to the Egyptian capital where the Embassy has made arrangements for their accommodation and food.

All of them have been booked by the Embassy by a Gulf Air flight which will reach Mumbai at 0505 hours Indian time on Monday, an External Affairs Ministry statement said in Delhi late tonight.

Another group of 80 Indian nationals from Derna/Baida area of Libya are expected to cross over to Egypt on Monday.

Some other Indians in Libya are also trying to cross into Tunisia by land route and arrangements are being made by the Indian Embassy in Tunisia for their onward road journey to Tunis before being airlifted back to India.

Two Naval ships INS Jalashwa and INS Mysore set sail from Mumbai this morning for Libya. The journey time is about twelve days to that country.

Another passenger ship with a capacity of 1600, now in the Mediterranean, is being chartered today and will be pressed into service for assisting the departure of our nationals out of Libya, an External Affairs Ministry statement said.

Scotia Prince, another chartered ship, is already on its way to Libya) and will transport the Indians to a safer destination from where they will be airlifted, Shipping Minister G K Vasan said in Chennai.

The ship has a capacity of 1200 passengers.