Tuesday - October 20, 2009

Pirates Seize Chinese Ship

Pirates Threaten to Execute 25 Chinese Sailors

Somali pirates responsible for hijacking a Chinese cargo ship in the Indian Ocean threatened Tuesday to kill its 25 crew members if a rescue operation was attempted.

“We tell China not to endanger the lives of their people with any rescue operation,” Hassan, a member of the gang that seized the vessel on Monday, told Reuters by phone.

“If they try that we will execute the whole crew ... we tell them to change their mind regarding any rescue, otherwise they will regret it. We know what they are planning to do.”

A government spokesman said China is making an “all-out” effort to rescue the cargo ship.

The De Xin Hai and its 25 crew members were seized by pirates in the Indian Ocean about 700 miles east of the lawless Somali coastline.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said China has launched a “contingency mechanism” in the wake of the hijacking and ordered missions abroad to verify developments and notify relevant countries.

It has also issued warnings to Chinese ships to stay away from the area “in case of accident or danger.”

“We will continue to follow closely the developments and make all-out efforts to rescue the hijacked ship and personnel,” he said, without elaborating on details.

The bulk carrier De Xin Hai was hijacked Monday about 550 nautical miles northeast of the Seychelles and 700 nautical miles off Somalia’s eastern coast. The European Union Naval Force said Tuesday the ship was 650 nautical miles off the coast of Somalia and appears to be headed toward there.

John Harbour, a commander with the British Royal Navy who serves with the EU Naval Force, said the UK Maritime Trade Organization in Bahrain called the ship but received no response. An EU force aircraft is monitoring the ship and reported seeing four pirates on deck.

The De Xin Hai is owned by the Chinese Ocean Shipping Company and was carrying coal from India to South Africa when it was seized.
advertisement

The ship had been dragging two skiffs behind it, much like the kind of skiffs that pirates have been known to use to hijack ships in the waters off Somalia.

Let’s see what happens. I think this is a very bad case of biting the hand that feeds them; China has a huge investment in Africa, buying up their resources left and right. And for this they get hijacked? Major insult. Huge loss of face. I think it calls for more than just a rescue effort. I think it calls for more than mere reprisals. I think it calls for the evil yellow hordes to descend and to do some serious bitch slapping of these hos. Obama would not dare to speak out against such an action. China owns his ass and he knows it.

My only concern is that if such an incursion happens, China won’t go home afterwards. On the third hand, a lawless shithole like Somalia needs an iron handed tyranny to keep it behaving, and China fits that bill perfectly.

Fortunately or unfortunately, China will probably do little more than negotiate a ransom. At most they attack the ship and kill the pirates. And probably lose half the crew in the process. But that doesn’t really matter. They’ll spin the story however it works best for them, and the West will swallow every tasty sticky drop. Because right now, China holds all the chips, and can do whatever it wants.

Somali pirates have recently ramped up attacks after a period of quiet during poor weather. They use sophisticated equipment and so-called larger “mother ships” to enable them to strike hundreds of miles offshore. The multimillion-dollar ransoms they share are a fortune in their impoverished and war-ravaged country.

A total of 146 people, including the crew of the De Xin Hai, are currently being held hostage by pirates.

I strongly hope that the pirates have cracked open a really nasty Misfortune Cookie with this order of take-out. One with angry dragons inside. And it would be damn high time if they did.

Imagine that. I’m rooting for our undeclared but perpetual enemies very best friends and trading partners to take up arms in a big way against a gang of punks that Evil Boosh or Teh Won could obliterate in a matter of hours but don’t have the guts for.

And another thing ... it seems to me that when I did my previous pirate post, there were only 82 hostages. Now there are 148, including these 25. Guess I missed a few ship’s worth of hijackings, even though I check the ICC Pirate News twice a week.

Posted by Drew458     on 10/20/2009 at 08:38 AM   
Filed Under: • CHINA in the news • Pirates, aarrgh! •  
• Comments (6) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

   Monday - August 10, 2009

A million flee as typhoon approaches China .

See the video ....

Almost a million people have been evacuated from southeastern China as authorities prepare for the arrival of Typhoon Morakot.


By Peter Foster in Beijing

The typhoon has already dumped 100 inches of rain on Taiwan in just 24 hours this weekend.

Local authorities in the coastal provinces of Zhejiang and Fujian sent out more than eight million text messages and recalled nearly 50,000 fishing boats to harbour on Sunday bs the storm tracked slowly northwards towards mainland China.

Morakot, which claimed 21 lives when it hit the Philipines on Friday, is the first major storm to hit Taiwan during this year’s typhoon season which runs from July to September.

By Sunday morning Taiwanese authorities said 29 people were missing, with one confirmed death in the worst flooding for 50 years.

In the most serious incident, 16 people were listed as missing by Taiwan’s Disaster Relief Centre after a their makeshift home was washed away in a flash flood. Elsewhere two policemen were swept away as they tried to help stranded villagers.

In China weather stations issued a “red alert” - the highest possible - in anticipation of Morakot’s arrival which is expected to bring winds in excess of 70mph.

The combination of high tides and the strong winds were predicted to create waves of up to 30ft along an exposed section of China’s east coast, leaving many rural fishing communities especially vulnerable to the storm.

In Zhejiang province, where 490,000 were evacuated, some villages were already becoming cut off by rising waters, with official riding bicycles to distribute drinking water and instant noodles to affected households, according to Xinhua, the Chinese state news agency.

Nearly 40 domestic flights were cancelled in the eastern city of Wenzhou and several major motorways were closed as a preventative measure before the storm made landfall on Sunday evening.

Early reports said that parts of Fujian, where 480,000 were evacuated, had already reported 12 inches of rain from early Saturday until Sunday morning, Xinhua added.

SOURCE

Posted by peiper     on 08/10/2009 at 09:52 AM   
Filed Under: • CHINA in the news •  
• Comments (5) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

   Friday - July 10, 2009

Chinese authorities ban Uighurs from mosques .

They don’t claim to be a democracy and sometimes their way works best for them. So who are we to insist they change?
In this case, the only fault I can find with Chinese reaction is that the police did give in to 1,000 muzzies who “refused to disperse.” Now see that was a mistake.
A thousand. How hard would it have been to eliminate ALL of em? Now that this group sees a slight weakness (if that’s what it was) what’s their next demand going to be?  Reparations? 

Finish the job China, while you can.

Chinese authorities banned Muslims from gathering at mosques for Friday prayers in Urumqi in a bid to prevent any further ethnic violence in the Xinjiang region.

By David Eimer in Urumqi and Malcolm Moore in Shanghai
Published: 11:53AM BST 10 Jul 2009

However, Chinese police eventually agreed to open up at least two major downtown mosques after crowds of up to a thousand Uighurs refused to disperse without being allowed to pray.

The 200 or so mosques in the far Western city had been ordered to close their door to worshippers in the wake of race riots between local Uighur Muslims and the majority Han Chinese that have claimed at least 156 lives.

Friday prayers are a focal point of the week for Urumqi’s Uighur Muslims and the Chinese authorities imposed the ban in an attempt to deter any large emotional gatherings after a week of tension and violence.

Security teams circulated through the city’s Muslim quarters and told worshippers to stay away from mosques this week and to worship next week instead.

“For the sake of public safety all of the mosques have told people that there will be no Friday prayers and that people should stay at home today and pray,” said a government official at the Yang Hang mosque, the biggest mosque in the city with a capacity of around 3,000. A notice was pasted outside cancelling the prayers.

However, as midday approached, a small crowd of around 100 worshippers gathered outside the mosque and a further 50 to 100 people made their way into the inner courtyard. “It’s not necessary to close it because everyone who enters the mosque is a Muslim. It will be safe,” said one female worshipper.

The crowd ignored demands from the Chinese police to disperse and demanded the right to prayer. As tensions rose, the news of a dispute outside the mosque drew a crowd of around 1,000. Eventually, the authorities relented and an abbreviated prayer ceremony, with no sermon, was permitted.

Riot police and security forces stood ready nearby, but after the prayers, the crowds dispersed without any incident. Uighurs generally practice a moderate form of Sunni Islam that was prevalent in Central Asia under Soviet rule, although more militant and austere forms of Islam have made inroads in recent decades.

A similar scene played out in front of the White mosque, one of the most popular places to worship in the mainly Uighur neighborhood of Er Dao Qiao. A Uighur policeman guarding the mosque said the authorities had backed down from a ban and “decided to open the mosque because so many people had gathered. We did not want an incident”.

However, the majority of the city’s mosques remained shut. One Uighur man, who declined to give his name out of fear for his safety, was sitting outside the Kungui mosque. “If I have to pray at home, then I will. But don’t ask me my mood right now.”

The last time that Friday prayers were banned in China was in 2003, during an outbreak of SARS, the respiratory disease. However, Uighurs in Xinjiang are subject to a number of restrictions on worship, including a ban on anyone under 18 attending a mosque. The government also controls the appointment of imams.

Meanwhile, thousands of fearful people poured into bus and train stations yesterday (fri) in a mass exodus from the city. Officials said they had put on extra bus services out of the capital, but demand far outstripped seats and scalpers were charging up to five times the normal face price for tickets.

“It is just too risky to stay here. We are scared of the violence,” said Xu Qiugen, 23, a construction worker from central China who had been living in Urumqi for five years and was trying to buy a bus ticket out with his wife.

It came as the state media reported that families of “innocent” people killed in the unrest will each receive 200,000 yuan (£18,000) in compensation. Urumqi’s government will also provide 10,000 yuan (£902) towards each funeral.

The situation in Urumqi is now significantly calmer and the security forces which had flooded the city, some of whom had been sent to reinforce Urumqi from cities as far away as Shanghai, took pains to keep a low profile. In Kashgar, the second-largest Uighur city, foreigners have been asked to leave for their own safety.

The violence began on Sunday when Uighurs clashed with police while protesting deaths of Uighur factory workers in a brawl in another part of the country. The crowd then scattered throughout Urumqi, attacking Han Chinese, burning cars and smashing windows. Riot police tried to restore order, and officials said 156 people were killed and more than 1,100 were injured.

SOURCE

Posted by peiper     on 07/10/2009 at 10:10 AM   
Filed Under: • CHINA in the news •  
• Comments (2) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

DISCLAIMER

THE SERVICES AND MATERIALS ON THIS WEBSITE ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE HOSTS OF THIS SITE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF SATISFACTORY QUALITY, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, WITH RESPECT TO THE SERVICE OR ANY MATERIALS.

Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:

1. Keep a firm grasp of Right and Wrong
2. Stay involved with government on every level and don't let those bastards get away with a thing
3. Use every legal means to defend yourself in the event of real internal trouble, and, most importantly:
4. Keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere

It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

THE INFORMATION AND OTHER CONTENTS OF THIS WEBSITE ARE DESIGNED TO COMPLY WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. THIS WEBSITE SHALL BE GOVERNED BY AND CONSTRUED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND ALL PARTIES IRREVOCABLY SUBMIT TO THE JURISDICTION OF THE AMERICAN COURTS. IF ANYTHING ON THIS WEBSITE IS CONSTRUED AS BEING CONTRARY TO THE LAWS APPLICABLE IN ANY OTHER COUNTRY, THEN THIS WEBSITE IS NOT INTENDED TO BE ACCESSED BY PERSONS FROM THAT COUNTRY AND ANY PERSONS WHO ARE SUBJECT TO SUCH LAWS SHALL NOT BE ENTITLED TO USE OUR SERVICES UNLESS THEY CAN SATISFY US THAT SUCH USE WOULD BE LAWFUL.

Copyright © 2004-2015 Domain Owner