Chinese General Points Out The Obvious
This is all drifting towards sending in foreign troops to, in effect, re-impose colonial type rule and attempt to train and install a government that will last. This is a very unsavory option, and not guaranteed to work. No one (at least in Africa or the West) wants to go near the C (for colonial word). But Chinese military leaders are pointing out that there is no other option, especially if the pirates are to be shut down. The Chinese are willing to contribute to the invasion force, but not to do it by themselves. Some Western military leaders have also pointed out the need for occupation of the coastal towns used as pirate bases. No one, not even the Chinese, want to go much beyond these coastal towns. Note that the Chinese have no hang-ups about the C word, and have long used a more "practical" approach to working with African governments.
Facing the Threat of Piracy, China Starts to Talk Like a Superpower
On a visit to the U.S. this week, China's top military commander Chen Bingde suggested that the international coalition patrolling the Gulf of Aden and the waters off the coast of Somalia ought to take decisive action against pirate dens on land. So far, the counter-piracy strategy has focused on the pirate "mother-ships," usually retrofitted trawlers that tow little skiffs out into the deep sea. Yet the pirate problem emanating from lawless Somalia cost the global economy over $8.3 billion in 2010. And China has a huge stake in securing its ever-increasing economic interests in the region.
Somali Pirates = alQaeda. Do it.
About effing time; it’s embarrassing when the Chinese show the b*lls Western powers used to have...
This also shows that the West’s lack of assertiveness has left a vacuum for the chicoms to fill.
Implement a “No Boat” zone along the Somalian coast for the next 40 years.
Dead pirates? Go China!
I hope the AP is wrong about the “unlikely to result in action” part.
“At some point you have to stop swatting flies and go for the manure pile.” General LeMay
China sees the Somali Pirates for what they are, Pirates. We (i.e. Zero) see them as future undocumented Democrat voters.
Why call for it? Just do it.
The Chinese have some huge number - at least 10 million? - excess males in the 18-35 warfighting demographic. What to do with them all?
Wars of conquest in places no one really cares about would seem to be one answer.
Let the ChiComs do it! It will take some of the heat off us!
Let the ChiComs do it! It will take some of the heat off us!
China’s right about this one (and would be filling a vacuum left by the absence of US or Western action).
Ya....this is about 5 years late.
In all fairness, Bush SHOULD have implemented this!
Last line of the article:
“People don’t even want to have to deal with pirates captured at sea,”
The Russians beg to differ.
This is probably the first time I agree with a political decision made by China.
As an aside, one of the things stopping reprisals against the pirate bases are the fact that the Somali pirates hold quite a number of hostages. Of course, it is quite likely the Chinese don’t care about the hostages . . .
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,454124,00.html
The Chinese have the right idea, but thy don’t go far enough.
1. Destroy pirate funding - no ransom for ships or crews. corporations or organizations that pay ransoms are to be sanctioned into bankruptcy.
2. The Navies of the Civilized World should attack pirates at sea. Captured pirates should be tried and executed by military courts at sea. They should not set foot on land again.
3. The Navies of Civilized World should attack the coastal towns than harbor the pirates. Captured ships should recovered, or, failing that, sunk. Everything else that floats should be sunk. The water fronts should be burned with special emphasis on destroying any boat or shipyards.
4. At the same time, troops should rescue any hostages or captured crews or recover their bodies.
5. The principle of massive, indiscriminate retaliation for the death of hostages and crews should be established. Literally hundreds of Somalis within the pirate towns should die for each hostage or crewman killed by them.
6. War should be made against businesses that provide logistics support to the pirates - boats, weapons, fuel, etc. Organizations supplying such should be destroyed and their owners slaughtered.
7. The leaders of the pirates should be hunted wherever the reside and killed without mercy.
8. Individuals providing information to pirates regarding ships to be targeted should be hunted and killed without mercy.
9. The laws of the sea and of nations should be changed to allow ships to carry weapons for self defense. Bounties should be paid for successful defense if involves the death of pirates or the destruction of their vessels.
And yet, the Chinese have always tried to thwart U.S. attempts to “interfere in other countries’ internal affairs”.