The first section of the article examines the assets and tactics that China has employed on its anti-piracy operation.The second section assesses the strategic drivers behind China’s employment ofmilitary forces by examining the motivations that led to the Chinese anti-piracy deployment. To do this, the article qualitatively tests three primary drivers behind China’s deployment that have been described in existing literature. Was the Chinese deployment motivated solely by Beijing’s desire to protect its economic and commercial interests? Did Beijing hope to demonstrate its increasing role as responsible global actor? Or was the mission intended to develop PLAN capabilities and provide an environment for real world training? Relying on media reports, academic publications and policy writings fromChinese and international sources, this article finds that China’s anti-piracy mission was primarily motivated by Beijing’s selfinterested desire to portray itself as capable of protecting its shipping interests while enhancing its diplomatic position as a responsible state actor. The final section of the article uses operational revelations from the current anti-piracy mission, combined with analysis of unclassified Chinese military publications, to examine the PLAN’s ability to execute a more complex sea lane of communication defense operation, a potential future mission.