Chinese navy to take on Somali pirates. OH MAN I CAN’T WAIT. I WANT TO SEE THIS!
on 12/20/2008 at 07:24 AM
I will not enjoy reading headlines like this one from two weeks ago.
Pirates in distress rescued by Danish warship
A group of suspected pirates was rescued by a Danish warship in the Gulf of Aden after the sailors received a distress signal from the ship, which was floundering in heavy seas, the Danish Navy said.
Silly wimpy Danes. What the heck were they thinking?
It will be very interesting if the Chinese navy shows up and routs the pirates. China could gain enormous leverage with this, and come to be seen as some sort of benevolent princes in Africa. They already are a huge source of income for many countries on that continent, buying pretty much whatever the locals can mine, make, or drill for. Taking on the role of Protector may put them over the top. This is just my idea, but if Turtler wants to run with it and think it through, that’s fine with me.
Well, since Drew was polite enough to give me the cue… let me just say that if you thought my paranoia over Russian intervention in that area was bad, you ain’t seen NUTTIN yet!
Why? Because, if anything, China remains a more robust threat then Russia, in its fading and weakened state, is.
Now, in order to understand why I say this, let me take you back to several posts regarding Zimbabwe and its tinpot “leader”, Robert Mugabe.
Now, many people have been asking what is keeping him in power, given his unpopularity, the corrupt nature of the regime, and countless other things on that list.
While the answer is relatively complicated and requires a knowledge of 60’s-present African history and other issues to know all the details, a major part of that full answer is Beijing. Who do you think arms Mugabe’s thugs? Who do you think provides the pathetic amount of capital Harare has nowerdays? Who do you think has shielded and protected Mugabe during his gambits like the one he did following his recent electoral defeat?
The answer to the above questions and more is China.
And Mugabe is not the only beneficiary of Chinese “patronage” on the dark continent.
Now, a point we brought up previously (back when the Russo-Ukrainian Cargo crisis was in full swing and Russia was sending forces down there) that, in addition to gaining influence over the Ukrainian Merchant Marine, the raid would also allow the Russians to begin the process of re-establishing their influence in the region.
China has similar motives for this deployment, with one deadly twist: they do not have to work from zero, because their old Cold-War-era puppets never abandoned them like they did Russia after 1989 and 1991. As we speak, the Chinese has considerable influence in Zimbabwe (as I mentioned), Angola, Mozambique, the “Democratic Republic” of the Congo, Botswana, and Nambia.
This is a Chinese bridgehead that spans the continent’s thinest point from shore to shore.
And this crisis would allow Hu and his ilk to expand into the Horn of Africa and the Middle East- which China has always wanted to influence but never actually has had the chance to- while also allowing China the opportunity to do two things simultaneously.
The first is to rebuild the Navy. Why? Because the only major “accomplishment” of the Chinese Navy under the present regime is a handful of skirmishes with the Taiwanese, which is a far cry from the Imperial grandeur of the Ming navy (though, no, they probably did not sail to Italy, or discover Australia or the New World). Hell, during the Korean War, the North Koreans (the same country that could not supply their own tank force) literally had to do the heavy lifting for the Communist naval campaign (and were promptly blown to pieces for their troubles). This expedition will help spur the development of the PLN, which has previously been shortcharged in favor of the PLA.
Second? It allows them an opportunity to re-establish their naval hegemony in the region. In the olden days of the Ming, pretty much every nation in the Northern Pacific Rim and the Asian coast HAD to pay tribute to the Chinese in order to have Maritime Trade, or the Chinese would simply sink their ships on the high seas. After the Japanese crushed the “Beiyang Navy” at the Yalu River, this is no longer the case. A formidable naval force would allow them to regain this advantage, which will help them tighten the noose around the Taiwanese.
Thirdly, it will also send a message to pirates- both of the Somalian and the Straits variant- of why you do not mess with Chinese shipping, as that has been a legitimate pain in their rears anyway.
So, I will be VERY suspicious of the Chinese activity in this region.
Because Beijing has NEVER given anything for free.
They want something here. And that something is probably not beneficial to the West.
Posted by Turtler
12/21/2008 at 12:57 AM
