A fleet of naval ships of the Chinese navy take part in a logistics support drill in the East China Sea near Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang Province, in mid June, 2007. (Xinhua Photo)From Financial Times:
China is considering sending ships to fight pirates off the Horn of Africa in what would be the country’s first significant long-range naval combat mission since the 15th century.
Senior Colonel Huang Xueping, spokesman for China’s ministry of national defence, told the FT an anti-piracy mission was “still in the consideration stage”. But he said: “There will be an announcement very soon.”
Since late October, more than 30 ships have been attacked by pirates based in Somalia and up to 19 vessels captured. These include a Chinese fishing vessel with 30 crew seized off the coast of Yemen on Tuesday.
Read more ....