China has long been a seagoing nation, as traders had been active developing markets in the Pacific and Indian Ocean areas for centuries. That tradition has continued into the present, as many of the large container transport lines are China-based.
That presence on the shipping lanes means that Chinese ships are now in the sights of Somali pirates along with the rest of the world’s fleet. In the past, the Chinese navy has been used to protect individual Chinese vessels, but China has now offered to become part of the Shared Awareness and Deconfliction group that has sent ships to the area to combat the pirates..
Geopolitical experts in the west have been nervous about China’s development of a “blue water” naval fleet that gives the Chinese navy the capability of going beyond its territorial waters; the fear was that China might use that against some of its neighbors like Japan and the Philippines down the line. This case shows that, as a maritime nation active in the world economy, China has a benign use for its blue-water fleet, protecting its merchant fleet as they ship freight around the world.
Given that 47 ships were hijacked in the waters off Somali last year, China is now becoming part of the mercantile nations of the world. A half-century after Mao would rail against capitalist running-dogs, China has joined the pack in protecting their blossoming merchant fleet; you could solve China’s energy problem by putting a transformer at Mao’s grave; the founder of the People’s Revolutionary Army is doing 10,000 revolutions per minute.
http://www.handyshippingguide.com/shipping…r-shipping_1223
Tags: cargo shipping, container shipping, container transport, freight shipping, ship freight