China joins anti-Somalian piracy patrols
Chinese warships with special forces troops, missiles and helicopters are to join the international anti-piracy mission off Somalia.
It is the first time the communist nation has sent ships on a mission that could involve fighting so far beyond its territorial waters.
The three vessels – two destroyers and a supply ship – may increase worries about growing Chinese military power and the mission will also challenge China’s ability to co-operate with other naval forces patrolling the Gulf of Aden, one of the world’s busiest sea lanes.
Warships from Britain, India, Russia, Nato and the US are also cruising the Somali waters that have been plagued by pirate attacks in recent months.
The Chinese ships will sail from a base in Sanya on the southern island province of Hainan. China said it was joining the anti-piracy mission after the United Nations Security Council authorised nations to conduct land and air attacks on pirate bases.
Pirates have made an estimated £20 million hijacking ships for ransom this year, seizing more than 40 vessels off Somalia’s 1,880-mile coastline.
Deploying ships to the Gulf of Aden marks a significant step in the evolution of China’s navy, according to a report by Stratfor, an Austin, Texas-based intelligence company.
The mission will be complicated, offering vital on-the-job training in refuelling, resupply and repairs far from home as well as patrolling for pirates, Stratfor said.
“In the event of an accident or a run-in with pirates,” Stratfor said, “would a Chinese vessel carry out repairs at sea, head to a nearby port, perhaps in Pakistan, or return to China?”
Stratfor also noted the waters would be awash with naval ships from around the world, making it essential for China to maintain effective communication with the vessels.
The Chinese “will very likely monitor the way Nato and especially US warships communicate with each other and with their shipborne helicopters,” the report said.
China’s willingness to send ships so far from home is also the latest example of the growing power and confidence of the country’s navy. In recent years, the military has been loading up on warships, planes, missiles and other weapons – a beef-up that has worried its neighbours and the US
Those most concerned include the Japanese and South Koreans, who have long-standing disputes about territorial waters that occasionally flare up.
China has also been locked in an uneasy stand-off with the Philippines, Vietnam and other south-east Asian nations over the ownership of the potentially oil-rich Spratly Islands in the South China Sea.
China has said the mission’s purpose is to protect Chinese ships and crews that have come under attack from pirates.
The vessels would also be willing to share intelligence and conduct humanitarian rescue operations with other countries involved in the anti-piracy efforts, Senior Col Huang Xueping, spokesman for the ministry of national defence, said.
Meanwhile, a German military helicopter rescued an Egyptian ship yesterday from pirates who shot and injured a crew member while trying to board the vessel off the Somali coast.
The bulk carrier with 31 crew was passing through the Gulf of Aden on its way to Asia when it was chased by gun-toting pirates in a speedboat.
The pirates are spurred by poverty in Somalia, a nation of about eight million people that has not had a functioning government since warlords overthrew a dictator in 1991 and then turned on each other.
