China to send warships to fight Somalia piracy
Tuesday, December 23, 2008 at 11:12 am
China’s Defence Ministry said on Tuesday that three warships will be sent to waters off Somalia to protect Chinese vessels from pirate attacks. The two destroyers and a supply ship will leave the island province of Hainan in southern China, on Friday, Defence Ministry spokesman Huang Xueping told a news conference in Beijing.
He said during the mission the Chinese navy was “ready and willing to strengthen information and intelligence sharing, as well as humanitarian rescue operations with vessels of relevant countries”. Piracy has taken an increasingly costly toll on international shipping, especially in the Gulf of Aden, one of the world’s busiest sea lanes.
Spurred by widespread poverty in their homeland, the pirates have made an estimated 30 (m) million US dollars from hijacking ships for ransom this year, seizing more than 40 vessels off Somalia’s 1,880-mile (3,000-kilometre) coastline.
Last week, the Foreign Ministry said about 20 percent of the 1,265 Chinese ships passing through the area had come under attack so far this year. Seven hijackings have involved Chinese ships or crews.
Experts said most of the commercial ships were not armed, meaning crews had few options when attacked.
A Chinese cargo ship’s crew, aided by the international anti-piracy force, fought off an attempted hijacking this week using Molotov cocktails and water hoses. China’s plans to send warships are a cautious step toward more engagement.
Though Beijing has a huge global commercial maritime presence, the People’s Liberation Army Navy has primarily focused on defending China’s coast and, until now, limited operations abroad to port calls, goodwill visits and exercises with other navies.
The Chinese fleet would join ships from the US, Denmark, Italy, Russia and other countries in patrolling the Gulf of Aden, which leads to the Suez Canal and is the quickest route from Asia to Europe and the Americas.
(Agencies)
( This post is from an independent writer. The opinions and views expressed herein are those of the author and are not endorsed by APakistanNews.Com.)
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