Spotlight: China completes evacuation from Yemen, assisting 629 nationals, 279 foreigners

China finished its evacuation mission after two naval vessels on Tuesday evacuated the last batch of Chinese nationals from restive Yemen.

In four operations since March 29, a total of 629 Chinese nationals and 279 foreign citizens were successfully evacuated aboard Chinese vessels from Yemen.

Lending a helping hand to its nationals as well as citizens of 15 other countries in need, China has played its role as a major responsible country and demonstrated the spirit of humanitarianism.

Due to the worsening security condition in Yemen, the working staff remaining at the Chinese Embassy have also left the country, after assisting the last batch of Chinese nationals to evacuate. The embassy has been temporarily closed.

The naval vessel Linyi, carrying the last batch of 24 Chinese nationals, 14 embassy staff members and 45 Sri Lankans, left Yemen's western port of al-Hodayda at 06:10 p.m. Beijing Time (1010 GMT) and arrived Tuesday morning at the Port of Djibouti after a voyage of nearly 12 hours.

The 24 Chinese nationals had been transported from the Yemeni capital of Sanaa to al-Hodayda in a five-hour drive.

Later on the same day, another Chinese vessel Weishanhu arrived at Oman's Salalah port carrying nine Chinese and one Japanese.

China's successful evacuation of hundreds of its nationals and foreigners from Yemen since last week has reflected a significant growth in the country's comprehensive national power, said Chinese ambassador to Yemen Tian Qi.

The evacuation also reaffirmed the Chinese government's commitment to people-first approach, Tian told Xinhua, adding that it also demonstrated the decisiveness and efficiency of the Chinese government.

Each and every one of the evacuated Chinese was safe and sound, said Tian.

Last week, China's Linyi and Weifang missile frigates evacuated 571 Chinese nationals from Yemen, and it was the first time that China deployed warships for the evacuation of its nationals in a foreign country.

Yemen, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia provided support for China's evacuation operations, the ambassador said.

Preparations for the evacuation efforts in Aden were extremely difficult due to the intensive exchange of fire between warring parties, Tian said.

The Chinese Embassy decided immediately after a brief cease-fire to begin the evacuation operations on March 29, one day earlier than the original schedule to start in Aden and al-Hodayda, Tian added.

The first group of 122 Chinese nationals were evacuated from the Yemeni city of Aden and arrived in Djibouti on the night of March 29 aboard Linyi, which also took two foreign employees of Chinese enterprises.

On March 30, 449 Chinese nationals and six foreigners boarded the Weifang missile frigate in al-Hodayda and left for Djibouti.

"We made a very detailed plan before the evacuation in al-Hodayda. And it only took about half an hour for over 400 people to board the warship, more than one hour earlier than the estimated time," Tian said.

In addition to helping its own nationals, the Chinese government also assisted other countries in evacuating their nationals stranded in the crisis-ridden Arab country. Linyi returned to Aden port on Thursday at the request of 10 countries to evacuate 225 of their nationals.

"China helping other countries to evacuate their citizens demonstrates the spirit of internationalism and humanitarianism," Tian said.

Saudi-led coalition forces on March 26 launched airstrikes in Yemen against the Shiite Houthi group. The air campaign has led to the suspension of all commercial flights at airports across the country. Only a few airports are open for charter planes. Endi