China to deploy ships off Somalia (and so it begins..)
 

China will send two navy destroyers and a supply vessel to the Gulf of Aden to protect merchant ships from attacks by Somali pirates, state media have said.

Chinese defence ministry spokesman Hu Changming told the Xinhua news agency that the three ships would set sail from the port of Sanya on 26 December.

Several countries have sent forces to combat the pirates, who have attacked more than 100 ships this year.

Among those still held is a Saudi oil tanker and a Ukrainian ship with tanks.

They are among 15 vessels the pirates hold for ransom.

Co-operation

The three Chinese ships, part of the country's South Sea Fleet, will leave Sanya on Friday for the Gulf of Aden and the waters off Somalia, Mr Hu said.

Their main mission would be to protect the safety of Chinese vessels and their crews in the region, as well as protecting vessels delivering humanitarian aid international organisations, he added.

The defence ministry spokesman said the ships would abide strictly to the relevant UN Security Council resolutions and international law, and would be willing to co-operate with other convoy protection ships from concerned countries.

They will also participate in humanitarian assistance missions.

At a news conference on Thursday, foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said 20% of Chinese ships passing through the region between January and November this year had been attacked by Somali pirates.

Correspondents say the deployment will be the first of its kind for a country that has traditionally followed a doctrine of non-interference in other nations' affairs.

But world leaders have called for greater action to deal with the problem and last week, the UN approved a resolution allowing foreign troops to pursue pirates on land in Somalia.

The Chinese taskforce will join warships from the EU, US, India, Russia, Malaysia and others which are already patrolling in the area.

Earlier, an Iranian warship began patrolling in the gulf, where two Iranian vessels have been hijacked recently, state radio reported.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7793723.stm

China now takes over for the Roman, errr.. United States as the world police..
:2 cents:

"The Chinese taskforce will join warships from the EU, US, India, Russia, Malaysia and others which are already patrolling in the area."

Never tought these countries could EVER work together on a military level but when it comes to protect their economy, money and trade it's finally seems possible.
So that's actually good news !

Where the fuck did these somalian pirates get resources to do their large scale pirate business anyway.

Great news. Let them.

that would be great news.... let them piss off billions in africa too

African warlords would be my guess.

Where pirates always got them, they stole them. That is why they call them pirates.

:2 cents:

Not really... several nations have their hands in this whole operation. The Chinese, like most of the world, have a vested interest in the safe passage of vessels in that corridor. Anybody that can pitch in should be doing so...

Agreed toots.

what the fuck do you think the biggest, the most lethal, and most greediest countries will do ? they will never fight.

all they do in Africa is take

Sounds like a good idea to me. Those pirate ships should be hunted down without mercy, and blasted out of the water, every last one.

Hijacking an oil freighter wasn't the brightest thing for those pirates to do.. LOL

well damn, a decent response from baddog, gfy is changing daily. or else im becoming more mean like baddog :)

The chinese naval destroyers will deploy 500,000 dollar store items on the deck of the pirate ships - thus sinking them with 'lead' weight.

why not send some fighter jets and blow them out of the water?

money brings governments together.

Kill'em...

Well good for the Chinese for stepping to the plate.

Now if one of these countries would have the balls to start killing off these pirates, we'll be on the right track.

I lol at those pirates.. they are gonna get butt rapped ... I wish they could catch stuff like this on video....

Last time I heard.... pirates tried to hijack a cruise but they were out-runned ....lol

And so "what" begins? I say it's about time some of these other so-called "superpower" nations stepped up and did some world policing.

Hopefully they get it right and actually do something positive over there.

Sounds good thanks for sharing