HONG KONG - China's plan to send naval ships to Somali waters to fight the
recent surge in piracy there will not only increase its role in world
peacekeeping but also mark the expansion of the People's Liberation Army Navy
(PLAN) from an offshore defensive force to a blue-water combat one.
It thus may not be coincidental that the Chinese media have increased
discussion about the need to build the country's first aircraft carrier. PLAN
will definitely need one or more aircraft carriers if it is to be a viable
blue-water combat force, military analysts say.
At the United Nations in New York on Tuesday, Chinese Vice
Foreign Minister He Yafei said that China "is seriously considering sending
naval ships" to the waters off the Somali coast to escort operations in the
near future to fight against rampant piracy there, the state-run Xinhua News
Agency reported.
On Wednesday, Chinese media reported the plan was already set. The state-run
English-language newspaper China Daily said, quoting an unnamed military
source, the country was ready to send a naval fleet on a mission to fight
pirates in Somali waters. "There will be a significant peacekeeping operation
[in Somalia]," the source said, but did not reveal the scale of the mission.
The Chinese-language Global Times, a sister publication of the People's Daily,
the flagship newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party, provides some details of
the planned mission. "The fleet will leave the South China Sea and head to the
Gulf of Aden and Somali waters." A Chinese journalist who is likely to
accompany the naval fleet said the operation would last three months.
Speaking at a ministerial meeting of the UN Security Council on Somali piracy,
He said that China welcomed international cooperation in the fight against
piracy off the coast of Somalia and supported the efforts of relevant countries
to send warships to the region to crack down on pirates pursuant to
international law and Security Council resolutions.
Piracy off Somalia has intensified in recent months, with more attacks against
a wider range of targets. But the problem is the most severe in the Gulf of
Aden, which links the Mediterranean Sea, the Suez Canal and the Red Sea to the
Indian Ocean.
About 100 attacks have been reported off the Somali coast this year. In
September, pirates seized a Ukrainian freighter loaded with 33 battle tanks,
and on November 15 they seized a Saudi oil tanker carrying US$100 million worth
of crude oil.
Two Chinese ships - a fishing vessel and a Hong Kong ship, together with about
40 crew members - were seized by Somali pirates in mid-November. The Hong Kong
vessel was later released, but the other Chinese vessel and 17 Chinese
nationals are still in the captivity of Somali pirates.
The Security Council on Tuesday voted 15-0 to adopt a US-drafted resolution
that authorizes all nations and regional organizations to "take all necessary
measures that are appropriate in Somalia" in pursuit of pirates, as long as
they are approved by the country's transitional federal government. The US
would take the lead in coordinating efforts to combat piracy coming from Somali
territory, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said.
Since July, the United Nations has adopted three resolutions urging the
international community to respond to the piracy menace off the Somalia coast.
The Chinese vice foreign minister called on all nations concerned to mandate
the UN to accelerate taking over peacekeeping operations in Somalia and prevent
the humanitarian situation there from worsening, Xinhua reported. The
international community should put more effort into removing the root causes of
piracy, He said.
Somalia's Foreign Minister Ali Ahmed Jama welcomed news that China was
considering sending naval ships to Somali waters. Jama made the remarks while
meeting with He Yafei on the sidelines of the UN ministerial meeting, Xinhua
said.
China has long stressed that its 2.5 million-strong PLA forces are purely for
defensive purposes. The strategy of PLAN is for offshore or coastal defense.
Also, because of its foreign policy of non-interference in other countries'
internal affairs, the Middle Kingdom has so far kept its troops close to home
and away from international operations.
But its growing wealth and global interest and influence have led to calls at
home and overseas for the country to take a greater role in world peacekeeping,
despite Western countries' concerns about its growing military power.
China is now involved in peacekeeping operations around the world, including in
Haiti and the troubled Darfur region in Sudan. In July, UN secretary general
Ban Ki-moon praised China's contribution of both funds and forces.
At home there is also growing discussion about the need to safeguard national
interests overseas. The China Daily said joining the anti-piracy campaign would
be an opportunity for the country's navy to "get in the thick of the action".
"Apart from fighting pirates, another key goal is to register the presence of
the Chinese navy," naval research professor Li Jie was quoted as saying.
Sending military ships to waters off Somalia will mark the first step for PLAN
to sail into the far ocean. “This is inevitable. With China's economic growth,
China's national interests spread globally. As is evident in the Somali case,
PLAN needs to be an oceangoing force in order to defend our national interests
overseas,” a PLA source in Beijing says.
Asked to comment on the heated media discussion about China's plan to build an
aircraft carrier in the imminent future, the source simply replies with a
question, “If PLAN is to become an oceangoing force, will it be so strange for
it to own one or more aircraft carriers?” But he adds, “Given China's national
strength today, we can afford the costly operation and maintenance of one or
more aircraft carrier battle groups.”
The latest round of discussion about aircraft carriers began with a Financial
Times interview with Major General Qian Lihua, director of the Chinese Defense
Ministry's foreign affairs office, published on November 17.
The world should not be surprised if China built an aircraft carrier, but
Beijing would use such a vessel only for offshore defense, Qian told the
British newspaper. Qian declined to comment directly on whether China had
actually decided to build a carrier, but he made it clear he felt China had
every right to do so.
With an apparent reference to the US, Qian said, "Navies of great powers with
more than 10 aircraft carrier battle groups with strategic military objectives
have a different purpose from countries with only one or two carriers used for
offshore defense. Even if one day we have an aircraft carrier, unlike another
country we will not use it to pursue global deployment or global reach."
The Pentagon said this year China was actively engaged in aircraft carrier
research and would be able to start building one by the end of this decade,
while Jane's Defence Weekly reported last month that the PLA was training 50
students to become naval pilots.
Russian media earlier reported that China was likely to start building its
first aircraft carrier next year at the Waigaoqiao shipyard in Shanghai.
The Financial Times interview with Qian and other related reports were quickly
picked up by major Chinese media outlets. Some, such as the Xinhua News Agency,
have even created a special section on their websites for updated reports from
home and abroad and for discussions by netizens. So far, almost all Chinese
bloggers support the country's plans to build an aircraft carrier, with many
urging the government to start the project as soon as possible.
The PLA source in Beijing played down concerns that China building a carrier
might have major implications for any conflict involving Taiwan. “If Taiwan
does not go for independence, why should China use force against it?” he said.
John Ng is a journalist based in Hong Kong.
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