Beijing is considering joining the international effort to tackle piracy off the coast of Somalia, or at least send warships to the area following an attempted attack on a Chinese ship on Wednesday. Chinese sailors and helicopters from the new EU anti-piracy force beat off the attack on the China Communications Construction Co. vessel, Zhenhua 4.
More than 120 ships have been attacked for ransom so far this year in what are some of the world’s busiest commercial shipping lanes. Deputy foreign minister He Yafei raised the possibility of sending navy vessels to the pirate infested Gulf of Aden at a ministerial meeting of the U.N. Security Council, Xinhua reports. Were it to happen, it would be an unprecedented display of naval power for modern China so far from its shores.
Piracy closer to home is familiar to China, as this snapshot of a map from the International Maritime Bureau, which tracks piracy incidents, shows.
Snapshot of IMB Piracy Map, Dec 2008
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Five Somali pirates drown with their loot
I don’t know if this was the work of God or Mother Nature, but I approve. There is a certain amount of justice to this story. It is good to have the bad guys get what they deserve for a change.