GOVERNMENTS around the South China Sea will today be told to step up campaigns against piracy.
The call will come from the world shipping authority, the International Maritime Organisation.
Delegates from several countries, including Hong Kong and China, will also be urged to set up ''clear and unambiguous guidelines'' to law enforcement agencies to avoid confusion over whether ships have been seized as part of anti-smuggling patrols, or by out-of-control officials and naval vessels.
Although China is not mentioned by name, a report to the organisation's Maritime Safety Committee meeting in London is aimed at ending the confusion over the seizure of vessels off the Chinese coast by naval vessels or vessels posing as naval vessels.
The report, which follows a fact-finding mission to China, Hong Kong and the Philippines in March this year, is cautiously worded, but says the guidelines should be aimed at implementing anti-piracy, smuggling and drug trafficking policies ''in a uniform manner so that innocent ships may not be unduly harassed''.
The report was compiled by committee chairman Admiral Thimio Mitropoulos after the trip.
It urges the shipping industry to take similar action to intensify efforts to prevent and suppress acts of piracy and armed robbery.
