Compiled by Caijing Staff

From Caijing Online

The Chinese cargo ship Zhenhua 4 was attacked by pirates on December 17 in the Gulf of Aden near the Somalian coast. After being boarded by nine pirates, the crew took shelter inside the ship and immediately requested for help from the International Maritime Bureau’s (IMB) Piracy Reporting Centre in Kuala Lumpur.

The IMB notified a multilateral force operating in the Aden gulf area, which rapidly dispatched a warship and two helicopters to help the Chinese crew. The pirates were rapidly driven away from the ship.

Since the war in 1991, the waters off Somalia’s coast have become one of the most dangerous areas for shipping. According to data from the International Maritime Organization of the United Nations, there were more than 120 attacks in this area in 2008, more than 30 ships robbed and 600 sailors kidnapped. Even now, pirates are holding more than 10 ships. The NATO, EU, Russia, India, Korea and other countries have already or are preparing to dispatch military ships to protect shipping in the region.

On December 16, the UN Security Council Security Council passed resolution 1851 which asked for assistance from all countries to defend against pirate attacks. The deputy director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in China, He Yafei, announced that China was considering whether to dispatch navy to support the international effort to control the problem.

Article in Chinese: http://www.caijing.com.cn/2008-12-18/110040169.html