China Sends Naval Fleet to Somalia to Battle Pirates

China is sending warships to the seas off Somalia to join the international fleet battling the rising threat from piracy, a foreign ministry spokesman said today.

The move marks a major shift in naval policy and would be China's first active deployment outside the Pacific region. Three Chinese ships have been among those attacked in the last few months in the shipping lane that links Europe and Asia.

Countries have joined together in the face of a sharp increase in hijackings that have cost millions of pounds in ransom and inflated shipping insurance costs. Hundreds of hostages are still being held.

"The Chinese government welcomes international cooperation to counter piracy," Liu Jianchao told a news briefing in Beijing.

"We decided to send naval vessels to crack down on Somali piracy," he said, adding preparations were "under way".

Chinese media had previously dropped hints that the government would join the multilateral force. Until today, it was the only permanent member of the United Nations security council not to participate.

The security council this week stepped up the drive against the attacks, authorizing countries to pursue the gunmen on land.

China's Global Times newspaper had predicted this morning that China would send two naval destroyers and a large depot ship to the Gulf of Aden after Christmas. It described the three-month tour of duty as China's biggest naval expedition since the 15th century.

The modern navy has only left the Pacific region for "goodwill tours".

Professor Li Jie, a military strategist and naval expert, told the state-run China Daily newspaper: ""Apart from fighting pirates, another key goal is to register the presence of the Chinese navy."

While other countries have been keen to see China play its part in tackling piracy, the move may increase concerns in the US about the country's increasing naval capability.

China's military budget has soared in recent years, as the authorities attempt to modernize forces that boast vast numbers of troops, but saw relatively low investment in equipment in the 1990s.

The country insists that its armed forces are purely defensive and its doctrine of non-interference in other countries' affairs has meant most troops are deployed close to home.

But its growing wealth and economic interests around the world have led to argument inside and outside China that it should play a greater role on the world stage. It is already involved in peacekeeping operations in places including Haiti and Darfur.

A senior naval official and professor of military strategy told the Washington Post: "Although we've attended UN peacekeeping tasks before, we were not involved in military actions. This is the first time China is taking part in a battle task."

The announcement came as the crew of a Chinese ship described their attempts to fight off hijackers with a water cannon and beer bottles, before their rescue by a warship and helicopters from the joint fleet. Somali pirates attempted to seize the Zhenhua 4 on Tuesday.

"Seven of the nine pirates landed on our ship, all with weapons," the captain, Peng Weiyuan, told China Central Television.

"Our crew, who had been well trained and prepared, used water cannon, self-made incendiary bombs, beer bottles and anything else that could be used to battle with them. Thirty minutes later, the pirates gestured to us for a ceasefire.

"Then the helicopter from the joint fleet came to help us."

Andrew Mwangura,, of the East African Seafarers' Assistance Program, told the Associated Press there had been 124 incidents of piracy off Somalia this year and about 60 successful hijackings.

Nearly 400 people and 19 ships are being held along the coast, including a Saudi supertanker with 2m barrels of oil and a Ukrainian cargo ship carrying 33 military battle tanks.