China's army, the People's Liberation Army (PLA), will protect the interests of its people no matter they are abroad or not, according to a white paper released by the State Council Information Office (SCIO) on Wednesday.

The White Paper on China's National Defense in the New Era redefined PLA's mission, specifically mentioning the "protection of overseas interests."

"It's one of the PLA's missions to effectively protect the safety and rightful interests of overseas Chinese people and organizations," the white paper said.

The white paper mentioned missions carried out by the PLA, emphasizing that protecting the land and sea of China comes foremost.

The PLA Navy boarded a Yemen hub in March 2015 to rescue 900 people from 16 countries, it noted, adding that to further protect China's interests around the Gulf of Aden, the PLA built its first overseas base in Djibouti in August 2017.

The white paper mentioned that the country is cooperating with nine neighbors on border protection, holding more than 3,300 patrols since 2012, adding that China's armed forces have deployed 72,000 rights protection and law enforcement operations since 2012.

In addition to land and sea, the Chinese army is also tasked with the mission of protecting China's nuclear weapons, safety in space and cybersecurity, the white paper noted.

The white paper also reiterated China's firm stand against terrorism and extremism, saying that China's armed forces participate in operations for maintaining social order, prevent and combat violence and terrorism.  

Since 2014, the People's Armed Police Force (PAP) has assisted the government of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in taking out 1,588 violent terrorist gangs and capturing 12,995 terrorists, the white paper pointed out. 

Since 2012, the PAP has put in major efforts in successfully completing security assignments during major events like the G20 Summit, the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, and participated in the response to 671 hostage situations, incidents of severe violence and terrorist attacks, the white paper said. 

Disaster Rescue and Relief

The white paper mentioned the contribution of China's armed forces in disaster relief and rescue operations, pointing out that the PLA and the PAP have deployed 950,000 soldiers, 1.41 million militia, 190,000 vehicles and items of equipment and sortied 26,000 vessels and 820 aircraft in emergency response and disaster relief since 2012, saving more than five million lives.

In 2017, the PLA Macao Garrison dispatched 2,631 soldiers and over 160 vehicles to assist the local government in relief efforts in the wake of Typhoon Hato.