News reporting from China indicates the fourth Chinese naval escort taskforce consisting of the Type054 frigates PLAN Ma’anshan (FFG-525) and PLAN Wenzhou (FFG-526) has been joined by the Type 054A frigate PLAN Chaohu (FFG-568) this week, marking the first time that China has had three warships deployed off Somalia. The fourth Chinese naval escort taskforce is supported by the PLA Navy support ship Qiandaohu.My first impression is that this deployment is intended to allow the PLA Navy to continue conducting escorts with two warships while maintaining a continuous presence off the coast near the hijacked Chinese coal-carrying vessel De Xin Hai with 25 crew members on board. It is unclear which PLA vessel is keeping an eye on the hijacked vessel, but the PLA did publish some nice pictures of PLAN Ma’anshan (FFG-525) sailors exercising for contested boarding operations yesterday.
It may also signal a permanent change to the PLA Navy's commitment off Somalia. In recent news reporting it was noted that the fourth Chinese naval escort taskforce will be adapting its strategy to deal with the changing conditions off Somalia. It listed changes in the behavior of pirates including a few interesting details I had not seen reported.
Pirate attacks are now taking place at all times of day, not just in the early morning. We already knew pirate attacks are taking place much further out to sea, indeed the Chinese note this as the De Xin Hai was pirated 1000 nautical miles from Somalia. The Chinese are acknowledging problems associated with an increase in pirate activity in the Mandeb Strait, off the coast of Oman, and noting increased activity around the Seychelles Islands, even though these are areas China has not conducted escort operations in the past.
However the news report also noted two interesting tactical changes in piracy, the first being that small boats are being loaded up with plenty of fuel for long distances and are more often attacking in coordinated numbers, instead of as single vessels. The other notable change is that the level of violence in attempting a hijacking has increased; noting that an increase in the use of RPGs and machine guns actively firing on commercial ships is on the rise during attempted hijackings.
None of this is new, right? Well, it is worth noting that China becomes the first nation to increase the size of their naval commitment against piracy in reaction to the increased range of attacks by pirates. Obviously other factors are contributing here, but it is also worth noting that with three warships and a large support ship now patrolling off Somalia, the PLA Navy now has at least as many naval ships as any other Navy contributing to the anti-piracy activities off Somalia, and the PLAN now has more gross tons of naval power off Somalia than every other Navy except the United States.
China still refuses to take an active leadership role as part of an international coalition against piracy, but it would appear they have no problem being a major visible contributor towards the shared security challenge of Somali piracy.
I think it is interesting that China's first naval deployment to fight piracy began in December of 2008, and one year later, December 2009, China now represents one of largest contributors to anti-piracy off Somalia. I see the anti-piracy mission by the PLAN as a microcosm of the pace of PLA Navy operational growth right now; a rapid pace matched only by the growth of the PLA Navy fleet itself.
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