China as a seapower
SLOC is another fine acronym brought to you by the Navy. Sea Lines of Communication are vitally important to any trading nation - and have been for centuries. Over 90% of the world’s good are transported by sea. If you trade, you care about the security of shipping lines.
Pirates have always harassed shipping. Although we tend to think of the Pirates of the Caribbean, pirates are rarely so easily identified. They look like fishing vessels until a prize comes into view, when they attack using modern weapons and looking not to hijack a ship’s worth of iPods, but to hold them ransom. Shipping lines have ransom insurance for their crew and their cargo, and often simply pay the price.
Currently, the coast of an ungoverned Somalia is the ripest hunting grounds for these pirates. Many nations have sent warships to the region to assist in the policing of the SLOC. And, now, China is joining. As others have pointed out, this new action is stirring up some concerns about a Chinese Navy that is able to project Chinese power beyond her borders. Certainly many Western nations, including the US, have pressured China to take a responsible role in world politics. But many seem to be nervous about this response. It doesn’t appear that China was specifically asked by any of the current states to participate in this action. At the same time, the action is occurring in international waters and China clearly has a vested interest in protecting SLOC.
What worries me most is the rules of engagement and communication. While the sea is a big, broad area, naval actions take place in close quarters without much room for error. Do the other navies know how to interact and deconflict operating areas with the PLAN?