My only question is why this is of any concern to China at all. These are hardly Chinese waters.
Posted on 07/18/2002 4:11:01 PM PDT by Sawdring
Beijing, July 18. (PTI): China today offered a guarded response to reports that India has deployed its warships in the Straits of Malacca for escort operations along with the US Navy.
``We have taken note of the relevant report. We hope such kind of cooperation will be conducive to regional peace and stability,'' Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan said.
When asked specifically if Beijing welcomed the presence of Indian naval ships in the pirate-infested straits of Malacca, Kong declined further comment.
Though China supports the US-led war against terrorism, the increasing presence of American forces in South Asia, Central Asia and South-east Asia is a matter of serious concern for Beijing, especially since hardliners in Washington consider China as a potential threat for US interests.
The official Xinhua news agency yesterday, quoting an Indian Government release, reported that Indian navy has deployed its warships to undertake escort operations through the straits of Malacca along with the US navy.
The decision to deploy the ships was taken as part of India's involvement in the ``operation enduring freedom'' against the global fight against terrorism, it said, adding that escort duties have been divided between ships of the Indian and the American navies for a period of six months each.
The decision to deploy the ships was taken as part of India's involvement in the ``operation enduring freedom'' against the global fight against terrorism, it said, adding that escort duties have been divided between ships of the Indian and the American navies for a period of six months each.
The list of countries helping us out in this war seems to be getting longer and longer. How about a round of applause for the team in the White House who are making it all happen?
This is a sign that India could surpass them in power projection capability for this region of the world. I'm a little surprised at the mild reaction.
Anyone aware of naval history knows a blue-water navy is the key to world power and respect. It's as true today as it was in the time of the Romans.
The US Navy has proven this repeatedly in recent history. Britain, Spain, Vikings, Romans......Phoenicia. Same formula.
My only question is why this is of any concern to China at all. These are hardly Chinese waters.
Hopefully. The only problem I see with that is that the 'good leadership' won't last forever. Sooner or later we'll have a President who doesn't quite have his/her act together.
Piracy Makes a Comeback
A New Lawlessness Rules on the High Seas
June 9, 2000
By Jim Krane
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| International Maritime Bureau | |
| The cargo ship MV Hualien disappeared off Taiwan in February. The ship and its 21-member crew haven't been seen since. |
The armed men held the ship's crew of 17 South Korean and Burmese men for 13 days before finally setting them adrift in a small boat. They drifted for three days until fishermen spotted them off the coast of Thailand on March 10.
But the 3,729-ton Global Mars is gone. A $100,000 reward is being offered for the recovery of the hijacked ship, which, authorities say, has probably been repainted and flies a new flag.
The fate of the Global Mars may sound like a bold and bizarre crime. Unfortunately for the world's shipping firms and their insurers, pirate attacks and hijackings are becoming increasingly common. In fact, a few days after the Global Mars hijacking, a Taiwanese ship, the MV Hualien, went missing along with its crew. The owners of that ship, too, are offering a reward for its return.
The crime once associated with gold doubloons and swashbuckling sailors became increasingly uncommon as coal- and oil-powered ships replaced sailing vessels in the 19th century. But now, a century later, ocean-going marauders are again plaguing some of the world's seaways.
Pirate attacks on international shipping increased 40 percent in 1999, according to the International Chamber of Commerce's International Maritime Bureau (IMB). Reports from the IMB's Piracy Reporting Center, based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, show that pirate attacks occur every two days in the seas near Indonesia, China and the notorious Straits of Malacca, a busy channel separating Malaysia from the Indonesian island of Sumatra.
An unusually brutal year
Last year, the IMB reported that pirates struck 285 times, up from 202 in 1998, and nearly triple the 1991 figure. In 1998, pirates killed 78 ship crewmembers, an unusually brutal year.
Recent incidents cited by the IMB and the International Maritime Organization (IMO), a United Nations agency based in London, depict depraved attacks by heavily armed gangsters.
285 attacks in 1999
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| International Maritime Bureau | |
| The tanker Global Mars, hijacked in February, is still missing, but its crew survived after being set adrift. |
Of those, 158 occurred in Southeast Asia, with 113 in Indonesian waters and ports alone. Most pirates climbed aboard when the ship was berthed in port or waiting at anchor in a harbor. Crews reported 61 attacks while underway at sea, often more serious than incidents in port.
The attacks range from thieves sneaking on board to pilfer food supplies to gangs of ex-soldiers toting automatic weapons looking to empty the ship's safe.
"Whilst underway about five pirates armed with long knives boarded and entered master's cabin and took ship's cash, hand phone and valuables," reads one typical brief filed by a Liberian livestock carrier after an attack near Indonesia.
"While at anchor ten pirates with knives boarded ship and stole ship's stores," reads the description of another Indonesian raid.
A new appreciation for loot
The "golden era" of pirating ships was supposed to have ended by the close of the 19th century.
But in 1983, Sweden submitted a report to the U.N.'s Maritime Safety Committee that told of the rebirth of pirate attacks on ships at anchor off West Africa, especially Nigeria. Between 1982 and 1986, about 25 pirate attacks were reported annually.
In 1989, a new pirate hot spot emerged: the Straits of Malacca. By 1991, 50 pirate attacks per year were occurring there.
As authorities in the region prepared to do battle, pirate attacks began cropping up in the South and East China Seas, off the coasts of China and the Philippines. In 1998, 98 reported pirate attacks took place in the South China Sea. In 1999, Indonesian waters became the most dangerous.
Root causes of attacks
Authorities say a number of converging trends have brought on the resurrection of piracy.
As the world's economy increasingly relies on international trade, exporters are sending more ships to transport commodities to market. At the same time, new navigation and cargo-loading technology allows giant merchant freighters to sail with tiny crews of sailors -- usually fewer than two dozen.
Security experts say new technology also helps the criminals. The lightly manned vessels are fat targets for pirate crews who may use cellular telephones and cheap, powerful arms such as AK-47 automatic rifles. As the slow-moving ships pass near land, criminals in speedboats have little trouble overtaking them.
Exacerbating the problem is the increasing lawlessness in Southeast Asia, especially Indonesia, following the 1997 Asian currency crisis. The IMB reports that the seas surrounding Indonesia are in a state of "virtual lawlessness." The agency has also warned shippers passing near Bangladesh, India, the Philippines, Singapore, Somalia, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
Tucked into this region are the world's most ship-clogged ports and channels. Singapore, the busiest port in terms of total cargo tonnage, lies at the center of a network of pirate-infested straits and islands, including the Straits of Malacca, the longest and busiest maritime channel on the planet, with 200 ships slicing through each day. Hong Kong, the world's busiest container port, lies near the southern end of the pirate-rich south China coast.
Pirate profiles
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| AP/International Marine Bureau | |
| The cargo ship Anna Sierra was hijacked in 1995 in the Gulf of Thailand and renamed Artic Sea. |
The pirate's biggest weapon, according to the Special Ops report, is surprise. The group's analysis of recent pirate attacks show that 85 percent of the victims did not realize a pirate attack was underway until the brigands had climbed aboard the ship.
IMO spokesman Roger Kohn said many attacks occur at night, as pirates in motorized boats sneak aboard ships by approaching their darkened sterns.
"It's easy to get on board. You've only got to worry about two or three people on the bridge. Everybody else is asleep or in the engine room. It's very easy to take charge of a ship -- especially if you're armed and they're not. You break into the cabins, tie everybody up, take the keys to the safe from the captain and you go. It's over in 10 minutes."
Kohn said victims of recent pirate attacks have described them as "terrifying," with no place to call for help and no way to counter gun-toting brigands but to comply with their demands and pray for mercy. No agency patrols the high seas.
An organized crime
In Singapore in March, representatives from 13 East Asian nations gathered to discuss the biggest worry of shipping companies: organized crime's entry into maritime piracy. One Australian private maritime security expert, Miles Glanville, said those fears have become real.
Large pirate gangs no longer appear to be a homegrown phenomenon, Glanville said, but part of a network of criminals who have penetrated shipping companies, port authorities and even national customs services.
Instead of pilfering a few valuables or a small amount of cargo, organized gangs now hijack entire ships with $20 million cargoes, selling the pirated loot in rogue ports and repainting and reselling ships, said Glanville.
"They're increasing the value they're going after," said Glanville. "You can have a buyer in Russia or North China waiting for the stolen cargo."
This can be seen in the case of the Global Mars and its enormous tanks of palm oil. The cargo -- and the ship itself -- was a lucrative target. If organized criminals are involved in such cases, say Kohn and Glanville, the prospects for winning the battle against piracy is much dimmer.
The mother ship
Last August, Indonesian police arrested a 56-year-old Singaporean man, Chew Cheng Kiat, finally cracking down on one of the most prolific pirate gangs to date, according to the IMB report.
Indonesia's intelligence agency blames Chew and his well-organized men for committing 21 ship hijackings from a pirate "mother ship," a tanker named the MT Pulau Mas. Evidence found on board the Pulau Mas showed that many of the hijacked vessels were converted into "phantom ships." They were repainted, re-flagged, given new crews and sold in Chinese ports, along with their cargoes.
Chew's gang members often went to sea as crew on ships to be victimized, authorities say. Once the target ships were at sea, the phony crew member would telephone Chew's gang, relaying the ship's position and route, allowing the Pulau Mas to overtake and seize the ship, the IMB report states. But Chew apparently wasn't the top leader of the operation. He reported to a crime syndicate in China, the IMB report states.
China gets tough
A new spirit of anti-piracy enforcement in China may force hijacked ships elsewhere. The IMB's reports show that hijacked ships often ended up in ports in southern China, where the cargo was sold and the ship given a new identity. At times, Chinese authorities would release suspected pirate crews, as happened in December 1998 when the Tenyu arrived in southern China renamed the Sanei 1.
Chinese authorities briefly held the crew on board the pirated Tenyu, then repatriated them to Indonesia, including a man identified as a well-known pirate, the IMB report states.
But since the 1998 murder of 23 crewmen on the MV Cheung Son, China's enforcement has stiffened. A recent decree issued by China's Ministry of Public Security acknowledged the piracy scourge and directed coastal authorities to halt it. The pirates who raided the Cheung Son received harsh sentences. Thirteen were executed. And Chinese authorities have jailed gang members believed responsible for at least three recent hijackings.
In one of those cases, a ship identified as the missing MV Marine Master -- renamed the Nuovo Tierra -- arrived at the southern port of Fangcheng in June. Chinese police arrested the renegade crew of 14 Burmese and returned the ship to its Taiwanese owner, the IMB reported.
That's not so. With a bunch of Russian destroyers they have the capacity to range several thousand miles from their bases. And they have built a number of bases in Burma (I forget what they call that miserable heck-hole these days).
All the oil from the Middle East going to China, the Phillipines, Vietnam, the Koreas, Japan, and the west coast of North America. That's why China considers it a strategic point to dominate.
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Good old fashioned containment, just like we did to the USSR. LOL, even China helped us on that one. Now China is the big threat these days, selling weapons to the Middle East, opposing the West when the opportunity presents itself. We need to keep China off balance as long as possible. There are several Asian countries that know that China will soon become a bully. Let's keep the bull in the pen.....
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