People's Liberation Army Special Operations Forces

On 23 December 2008, their publicly known mission is to accompany three Chinese warships in protecting and escorting commercial ships against the Somali pirates, in cooperation with other nations as part a UN mandate.
Special Reconnaissance
- Guangzhou Military Region Special Forces Unit - Established in 1988 as the PLA’s first special reconnaissance group, and was later expanded in 2000 to become the first PLA special operations unit to be capable air-, sea-, and land-operations.