China's Turn Off Somalia

The hijacking of the Chinese bulk freighter De Xin Hai represents the first large commercial ship hijacked off the coast of Somalia in awhile, with fishing vessels being the most frequently attacked type of vessels off the Seychelles. This may be an interesting story to watch, because China is playing it up in the media back home, at least initially.

China vowed Tuesday to make "all-out efforts" to rescue a Chinese cargo ship hijacked by armed Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean northeast of the Seychelles.

"We will continue to follow developments closely and make all-out efforts to rescue the hijacked ship and personnel," foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu told reporters, while giving no details of China's plans.

China sent three navy ships to the Somali coast in January to join world efforts to protect shipping in the region from pirates and has previously come to the aid of some stricken vessels, Chinese state media reports have said.

According to the European Union's anti-piracy naval mission, the ship was seized 550 nautical miles northeast of the Seychelles and 700 nautical miles off the pirate-plagued east coast of Somalia.

A rescue operation is not going to be easy, and may not be possible. The negotiations can be stretched out over periods of months, and one wonders how long before China pushes the news to the back of the last page in the paper, or off the paper altogether.

Then again, the French have been very proactive when their ships have been hijacked, and China may decide to take a similar approach.

One thing I don't understand. The ship was hijacked, so the PLA Navy sends all three ships? Aren't they escorting convoys up north? I get what they are trying to do... they want to prevent the ship from reaching the Somali coast where is can be resupplied. Still, it does seem odd to me that they would simply drop the activities they have been doing exclusively since sending ships to Somalia to react to 1 hijacking. One wonders if they got the assist from CTF-151, Atalanta, or someone else to watch their convoy while they rush off the to the rescue. For our part, we'd have been smart to volunteer to take over the escort.

The frigates Zhoushan and Xuzhou are in the region as is the support ship Fuchi.