China to send 3 ships to fight Somali pirates

[unhappycamper]

China to send 3 ships to fight Somali pirates
The Associated Press
Posted : Sunday Dec 21, 2008 9:17:46 EST

BEIJING — China’s navy will send three ships to the waters off Somalia this week to protect Chinese vessels and crews from pirate attacks, state media said.

Two destroyers and a supply ship will leave the island province of Hainan in southern China on Dec. 26, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

They will patrol the Gulf of Aden and areas off the Somali coast, Foreign Ministry spokesman, Liu Jianchao, said in a statement issued late Saturday.

“Their major task is to protect the safety of Chinese ships and crew on board as well as ships carrying humanitarian relief material for international organizations,” Liu said.

Piracy has taken an increasingly costly toll on international shipping, especially in the Gulf of Aden, one of the world’s busiest sea lanes. Spurred by widespread poverty in their homeland, the pirates have made an estimated $30 million hijacking ships for ransom this year, seizing more than 40 vessels off Somalia’s 1,880-mile coastline.


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/12/ap_piracy_122108/%2e