China has deployed a naval ship to the South Pacific and Latin America—a region regarded as the backyard of the United States—for medical and cultural missions.
China’s naval mission, code-named Harmony 2025, begins as tensions between the U.S. and Venezuela continue to rise. The Pentagon has deployed warships and fighter aircraft in the southern Caribbean as it steps up its war on narco-terrorists.
Newsweek has contacted the Pentagon and Chinese Foreign Ministry for comment via email.
Why It Matters
As part of its military buildup, China operates the world’s largest navy by hull count, with more than 370 ships and submarines in service, including three oceangoing hospital ships assigned to the Northern, Eastern and Southern Theater Commands. The Chinese navy helps Beijing expand its military presence and reach around the world.
In recent years, Latin America and the Caribbean—which have long been seen as part of the U.S.’s sphere of influence—have witnessed China’s expansion of political, economic and military ties and influence, including a suspected spy facility in Cuba. This year, Beijing and Washington have clashed over the sovereignty of the Panama Canal.
What To Know
China’s Defense Ministry announced on Friday that the oceangoing hospital ship CNS Silk Road Ark would depart on the Harmony 2025 mission in early September. The Chinese Navy confirmed the ship left Quanzhou, Fujian province, the same day.
Xinhua News Agency reported that the ship was scheduled to visit Nauru, Fiji, Tonga, Mexico, Jamaica, Barbados, Brazil, Peru, Chile and Papua New Guinea during its 220-day deployment. It remains unclear whether the ship will transit the Panama Canal.
“The mission aims to strengthen friendly cooperation between China and relevant countries,” the Chinese Defense Ministry added. The Chinese Navy said one of the ship’s assigned tasks was “military medical exchanges and cooperation with foreign countries.”
The mission also marks the first overseas deployment for the Silk Road Ark since its commissioning in 2024, according to the Chinese Defense Ministry. The ship, which is equipped with 300 patient beds, recently conducted a mission in the South China Sea.
The previous Harmony 2024 mission was assigned to the hospital ship CNS Peace Ark, which visited 13 countries in Africa and Asia during its 215-day voyage between June 2024 and January 2025, treating 82,980 people and performing 1,392 surgeries, Chinese state media reported.
The deployment of the Silk Road Ark follows a similar mission by the U.S. Navy hospital ship USNS Comfort, which was deployed between May 30 and August 17 for the Continuing Promise 2025 mission in the Caribbean and Central and South America.
The Comfort treated 12,616 people and performed 242 surgeries across six countries, demonstrating the U.S. Navy’s commitment to global health and humanitarian aid, according to the U.S. Department of Defense.
What People Are Saying
China’s Defense Ministry said in a news release on Friday: “The mission aims to strengthen friendly cooperation between China and relevant countries, offer more public safety resources to the international community, and further advance the concepts of a community with a shared future for mankind and a maritime community of shared future.”
China’s Navy wrote on X on Saturday: “Commissioned in April 2024 with the hull number 867, [CNS Silk Road Ark] is charged with tasks including medical treatment and evacuation of casualties at sea, international humanitarian medical services, emergency rescue and response to major disasters, and military medical exchanges and cooperation with foreign countries.”
What Happens Next
It remains to be seen how the U.S. military will respond to China’s naval deployment in Latin America and the Caribbean.
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