The Chinese navy plans to co-operate with its counterparts from India and Japan during escort missions this year in the pirate-infested waters of the western Indian Ocean, the Defence Ministry said yesterday.
Ministry spokesman Senior Colonel Geng Yansheng told a regular briefing that China and other escort fleets had agreed to come up with quarterly schedules to integrate their naval patrols around the piracy hotbed of Somalia.
'The strengthened co-ordination and co-operation could increase the efficiency of escort operations and better safeguard international navigation safety,' Geng said, according to Xinhua.
The schedule-making process would be led each quarter by one reference country, starting with China. The other countries involved in the operation would formulate their own schedules according to China's.
Naval experts said it was the first time that China, India and Japan, three of Asia's top military powers, had formally co-operated with each other in the anti-piracy mission, with the navy of People's Liberation Army (PLAN) likely to play a leading role.
'The PLAN is playing a relatively leading role under the new co-ordination mechanism because it was originally proposed by Beijing,' said Senior Colonel Li Jie of China's Naval Academy.
He said common interests motivated the three countries to share their naval resources despite their continuing territory disputes.