Mainland media recently showed some harrowing pictures of Somali pirates holding the crew of a hijacked Chinese fishing trawler at gunpoint. The captives sat on deck with heads bowed in the sweltering sun. The photographs were taken by a US warship as the trawler headed through the Indian Ocean towards the coast of Somalia, where it was later anchored.
If the previous pattern of pirate operations is followed, the owners of the Tian Yu 8, of state-owned Tianjin Ocean Fishing Corp, will have to negotiate the freedom of the 25 crewmen, 17 of whom are Chinese nationals, by paying a big ransom. The US Navy says there have been at least 95 pirate attacks reported so far this year in the Gulf of Aden and surrounding waters, with 39 of them resulting in the capture of vessels.
Close to 20 of these ships are still held, along with their crews, including a Hong Kong-registered freighter, the Delight. It was seized in the Gulf of Aden on November 11, three days before the Tian Yu 8 was captured. Another cargo ship from Hong Kong, seized by Somali pirates in September, was released last month.
In response to this outbreak of maritime crime and the threat to international shipping off the Horn of Africa, the US, Europe, Russia, India, Pakistan and Turkey have sent warships to patrol waters in the region and protect shipping. At least 14 warships are in the area. The European Union is about to deploy a naval force of up to six ships at a time, supported by maritime patrol aircraft.
India is planning to increase its contribution by sending several of its most modern warships at a time. Japan and South Korea are also seeking parliamentary approval to make anti-piracy deployments.
Meanwhile, the UN Security Council is discussing proposals to give foreign navies a more robust mandate to counter Somali pirates.
Where is China in all this activity? Of the five permanent members of the Security Council, only China has yet to announce the dispatch of its navy to the scene. A Foreign Ministry spokesman was quoted as saying after the seizure of the Tian Yu 8 that Beijing condemned all pirate actions and was willing to combat piracy provided Somalia's government agreed.