On December 26, 2008, the Chinese naval task force set sail from a port in Hainan for Somalia to take part in an escort mission against piracy. The expedition was the first occasion that China had deployed warships far from its coastline to protect the nation's strategic interests and also the first time it had implemented an international humanitarian mission overseas. Up until December 2011,?China has sent 25 fleets, 22 helicopters, 700 special operators and more than 8,000 officers and soldiers to this area, and has escorted more than 4,300 domestic and foreign vessels.