Dangers abroad
The mainland state press coverage of detained Diaoyu fishing captain Zhan Qixiong tapped a powerful siphon of national sentiment. Vivid interviews with his worried relatives at home in Fujian describing the pain of Zhan missing the Mid-Autumn Festival and his grandmother's funeral helped fuel the outrage that was undoubtedly noted in Tokyo and fed into the Japanese government's strategic calculations. He was eventually released, and Tokyo found new ways to pressure Beijing on the region's more intractable territorial disputes.
That coverage stood in stark contrast to the plight of 19 mainland sailors aboard a chemical tanker now being held at a pirate stronghold on the coast of Somalia on the Horn of Africa. Still detained after more than three months, the sailors have missed a lot more than the Mid-Autumn Festival.
A flurry of state press reports after the initial capture of the MV Golden Blessing, a Singaporean-flagged but mainland-operated ship, have faded into media silence.
Unlike the Diaoyus, there is little propaganda mileage it seems. The detention is a reminder of the lingering impotence of the PLA navy and the armada of other international navies in snuffing out the scourge of piracy off the coast of Somalia that threatens the vital sea lanes linking East Asia to the Middle East and Europe.
The ship was hijacked far from the People's Liberation Army's historic deployment of warships, and outside a PLA convoy. It was a German warship that eventually confirmed the capture, but it was able to do little else.
The De Xin Hai, the first mainland ship captured since the first PLA warships arrived in the Gulf of Aden in January last year, received considerably more attention, neatly completed with the payment of a ransom of more than US$4 million to secure the release of ship and crew. That was more than enough for the mainland's propaganda commissars, thank you very much.
The contrast raises some intriguing questions. What will happen in cases where coverage is a lot harder to stage-manage, and national sentiment cannot be reined in? Imagine some horror playing out on international television. Imagine, for example, a Manila-style hostage crisis involving mainlanders that involves a stand-off for several days and is not so easy to hide.
Those questions point to growing expectations as increasing numbers of mainlanders travel internationally and demand government support should things turn nasty. Already, various government ministries have shown an ability to co-ordinate, and move swiftly to help Chinese nationals caught in trouble spots such as Haiti, Bangkok or Kyrgyzstan.
Those pressures and expectations can only rise, mirroring China's rapidly expanding international role. Mainland workers are routinely kidnapped - with little international attention - in projects across Africa, for example. Al-Qaeda, meanwhile, has publicly stated it will target Chinese projects.
Signs are emerging that some government officials and analysts are examining a range of possible responses, from improved diplomatic channels of communication to, in extreme cases, dispatching special forces teams. Given China's much-vaunted policies of non-intervention in other states' affairs, this would mark a significant departure.
The government and large state firms, meanwhile, are now quietly tapping advice from private security firms.
Some commentators have looked with envy at the way large developed nations, particularly the United States, can bring a range of tactics of bear on a situation, from intense diplomatic and media pressure to rapid armed response, to protect nationals.
Xiao Shu, a senior commentator at the mainland's Southern Weekend, has warned that while China's stature has risen, 'its citizens travelling overseas still do not enjoy the respect they deserve'. Resolute action by a government 'acts as a deterrence to terrorists and other criminals'. Most importantly, he says, it offers a sense of security to its citizens at home and abroad.
Greg Torode is the Post's chief Asia correspondent
