China targets pirates in groundbreaking mission

By WILLIAM FOREMAN, Associated Press Writer

GUANGZHOU, China – Chinese warships headed toward

Somali waters Friday to combat piracy, the first time the

communist country has sent ships on a mission that could

involve fighting so far beyond its territorial waters.

The deployment to the Gulf of Aden, which has been

plagued by increasingly bold pirate attacks in recent

months, marks a major step in the navy's evolution from

mostly guarding China's coasts to patrolling waters far

from home.

The move was welcomed by the U.S. military, which has

been escorting cargo ships in the region along with India,

Russia and the European Union. But analysts predicted

the Chinese intervention could be troubling to some Asian

nations who might see it as a sign of the Chinese military

becoming more aggressive.

The naval force that set sail from southern Hainan on

Friday afternoon included a supply ship and two

destroyers — armed with guided missiles, special forces

and two helicopters. China announced it was joining the

anti-piracy mission Tuesday after the U.N. Security

Council authorized nations to conduct land and air attacks

on pirate bases.

Pentagon spokesman Maj. Stewart Upton said the U.S.

welcomed China's move.

Pirates working out of Somalia have made an estimated

$30 million this year, seizing more than 40 vessels off the

country's 1,880-mile (3,000-kilometer) coastline. Most of

the attacks have occurred in the Gulf of Aden, one of the

world's busiest shipping lanes.

Deploying ships to the area helped stoke national pride

among Chinese who feel their increasingly wealthy nation

should be playing a bigger role in world affairs.

The front-page of the Southern Metropolis Daily — one of

southern China's most popular newspapers — had a

photo Friday of a special forces member posing with his

finger on the trigger of an assault rifle armed with a

grenade launcher. A headline read, "They won't rule out a

direct conflict with pirates."

For several decades, China has kept a massive army

focused on protecting its land borders, while the country's

navy was relatively weak. But in recent years, as China

became more deeply involved in the global economy, it

concluded that a stronger navy was needed to protect its

increasingly vital sea shipments of oil, raw materials and

other goods.

China has been rapidly beefing up its navy with new

destroyers, submarines and missiles. Naval officers have

even been talking about building an aircraft carrier that

could help the navy become a "blue-water" force — a fleet

capable of operating far from home.

Denny Roy, a senior fellow at the East-West Center in

Hawaii, said the naval buildup and the mission to Somalia

are the latest signs that China is no longer willing to rely

on the U.S. or other foreign navies to protect its 

increasingly global interests.

"China has not been dissuaded from entering the field,"

Roy said. "That leaves open the possibility of a China-

U.S. naval rivalry in the future."

Roy predicted China's move would alarm Japan and some

in South Korea because both countries have long-

standing territorial disputes with China. But he said most

Southeast Asian countries may see China's involvement

in the anti-piracy campaign as a positive thing. It would

mean that China was using its greater military might for

constructive purposes, rather than challenging the current

international order.

India, another longtime rival of China, would likely

welcome the Chinese naval presence off Somalia for the

short term, said C. Uday Bhaskar, a former naval

commander and retired director of India's Institute of

Defense Studies and Analyses. He doubted it would upset

the strategic balance.

"If it is working for the common good, then I think India will

welcome it," he said.

China's military has not said how long the mission would

last, but the state-run China Daily newspaper recently

reported the ships would be gone for about three months.

The paper said about 20 percent of the 1,265 Chinese

ships passing through the Somali area have come under

attack this year.

The mission will likely offer Chinese sailors invaluable on-

the-job training, according to Stratfor, an Austin, Texas-

based intelligence company. The mission will be complex,

with crews having to do refueling, resupply and repairs far

from home amid the constant threat of pirate attacks.

The waters will also be crowded with naval ships from

around the world, testing the Chinese ships' abilities to

communicate effectively with other vessels in a common

mission that has little central organization.

The Chinese will very likely monitor the way foreign

forces, "especially U.S. warships, communicate with each

other and with their shipborne helicopters," the Stratfor

report said.

A NATO task force to the Gulf of Aden was recently

replaced by a European Union flotilla with four to six ships

patrolling the area.

About a dozen other warships, including U.S., German,

and Danish ships, are in the region as part of a separate

international flotilla based in Bahrain and engaged in anti-

terrorism operations. Several individual nations, including

Saudi Arabia, Russia, Malaysia and India, also have

vessels in the Gulf of Aden.

The China Daily on Friday quoted Rear Adm. Du Jingchen,

the mission's chief commander, as saying a total of 1,000

crew members will be on the three Chinese ships.

"We could encounter unforeseen situations," Du was

quoted as saying. "But we are prepared for them."

Associated Press writer Gavin Rabinowitz contributed

from New Delhi.

轉貼自︰

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081227/ap_on_re_as/piracy

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