Courtesy of Radio Australia, it appears someone finally asked China to put the rapidly growing PLA Navy to good use.
There's been a call for China and other Asian nations that fish off the coast of Somalia to take part in a proposed United Nations-backed force to combat maritime piracy.
Spain's prime minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, says the area off the African coast has become especially dangerous.
The headline of the article is Asian nations urged to join anti-piracy taskforce, which we are pleased to see because this is exactly what we called for on this blog last week. Coalition approaches to problem solving as reflected in the Navy's maritime strategy is without question the smart way to approach international security problems.
This is what Admiral Morgan was talking about when he floated the idea of the 1000 Ship Navy. If the international community can surge a global maritime partnership to address the pirate problems off Somalia, it would be a positive step forward towards using international institutions for promoting maritime peace in the 21st century.
And it is at this point the Navy arrives at step two. Our theme this week is peacemaking strategy, and we want to offer something up for discussion. If we assume for a moment that the Asian powers join with the US and European powers to provide security to the maritime domain off northeast Africa, we must recognize the 1000 Ship Navy will only be a solution to address the symptoms, not the problems.
For problem solving on the ground in places like Somalia in the 21st Century, we believe the complimentary capability that needs discussion is the 30 Agency Navy. We believe this is a direction the Marines are heading as part of their total capability.
While the current wars prevent the US from building this capability today, we note the wars are also part of the learning curve for it. We see the 30 Agency Navy an an international coalition much like the 1000 Ship Navy is, but as the engagement from the sea to the ground piece directed to troubled regions. If the Navy believes the 1000 Ship Navy could actually materialize, they need to get busy on that 30 Agency Navy concept, because its need will be very evident quickly if the 1000 Ship Navy is successful bringing security to a lawless region.
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