A few weeks ago, I discussed China’s aspirations to burnish its anti-piracy credentials by responding forcefully to the new resurgence in piracy off the Horn of Africa.
In at least two incidents in April, Chinese People’s Liberation Army-Navy vessels, assisted by the Indian Navy in at least one of the two instances, acted as first responders. In the first incident, Chinese forces rescued the crew of a Tuvalu-flagged bulk carrier, the OS 35, and in the second, the PLAN responded to a distressed Panamanian-flagged carrier, the Alheera. With reference to the latter, Voice of America reported that unidentified “foreign naval forces” used lethal force against the pirates.
The Chinese government has yet to confirm if its naval forces used lethal force against pirates in the Indian Ocean, which may well be the PLAN’s first recorded use of such force in the Indian Ocean region. The matter of anti-piracy did come up at the Chinese Ministry of Defense’s monthly press conference in April. Senior Colonel Yang Yujun, spokesman for the Ministry of National Defense, was clearly pleased when the matter of China’s anti-piracy activities came up, commending the reporter that raised the question for a “very good question.”
Source: The Diplomat
