Chinese naval hospital ship arrives in Tonga for week-long visit

The Chinese naval hospital ship, Silk Road Ark, arrived at Tonga's Nuku'alofa Port on Monday, starting a seven-day visit featuring medical services and cultural activities during its "Mission Harmony 2025."

This is the fourth visit to Tonga by a Chinese naval hospital ship on Mission Harmony.

Tonga's acting Prime Minister Taniela Fusimalohi, along with military and political dignitaries, the Chinese ambassador to Tonga, local residents, representatives of overseas Chinese and Chinese enterprises, came to the pier to greet the vessel.

During its visit to Tonga, the Silk Road Ark will provide medical services on the ship, conduct academic exchanges on war injury rescue with the Tongan Navy, hold medical forums with Tongan hospitals, dispatch an onboard helicopter and multiple medical teams for clinic programs in local communities and on outer islands, and send teams to local schools for cultural exchange.

The navies of the two countries will also hold joint exercises in the waters off the port.

In February 2022, a Chinese flotilla comprising two naval ships arrived in Tonga to deliver more than 1,400 tons of disaster relief supplies after the South Pacific island nation was devastated by a massive volcanic eruption and ensuing tsunami.

The hospital ship Peace Ark visited Tonga in 2014, 2018, and 2023, providing over 15,000 medical services to the local residents. 参考来源：ID: 8447785 "Mission Harmony 2025" marks the 11th iteration of Mission Harmony since 2010 and the first overseas mission for Silk Road Ark, China's second domestically designed and constructed 10,000-tonne-class standard ocean-going hospital ship.

The 220-day mission, the longest in the series, will see the ship visit around a dozen nations, including Nauru, Fiji, Tonga, Mexico, Jamaica, Barbados, Brazil, Peru, Chile, and Papua New Guinea, to provide humanitarian medical services.

Chinese naval hospital ship arrives in Tonga for week-long visit

The U.S.-Israeli war on Iran is creating the worst energy crisis the world has ever faced, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA) Fatih Birol said on Tuesday.

Birol said the energy crisis, resulting from shipping disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz coupled with the fuel and natural gas supply issues brought about by the Ukraine crisis, has already had a huge impact globally.

Europe may have only about six weeks of jet fuel remaining if current supply disruptions persist, Birol warned on April 16.

In March, the IEA agreed to release a record 400 million barrels of oil from strategic stockpiles to combat rising oil prices caused by the war in Iran.

Approximately 20 percent of the world's crude oil and liquefied natural gas pass through the Strait of Hormuz during peacetime. Maritime traffic in the Hormuz has been severely disrupted since the U.S-Israeli strikes against Iran started at the end of February, sparking turbulence in global energy markets.

U.S.-Iran war creating worst energy crisis in history: IEA chief