CHINA WANTS TO LEAD INTERNATIONAL FIGHT ON SOMALI

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 HONG KONG 002136

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EAP/CM
STATE ALSO FOR PM/PPA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/16/2019
TAGS: PHSA EWWT ATRN PREL KPIR KCRM SO BA CH HK
SUBJECT: CHINA WANTS TO LEAD INTERNATIONAL FIGHT ON SOMALI
PIRATES

Classified By: Acting Consul General Christopher Marut for reasons 1.4
(b) and (d)


1. (SBU) SUMMARY: On November 13, at a well-attended private
sector-organized International Piracy Conference, senior
Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy officers stated
China was committed to deploying its fleet to the Horn of
Africa (HOA) until the region was stable and secure. They
urged greater international cooperation in combating maritime
piracy, in line with Beijing's official request in early
November to co-lead multinational anti-piracy coordination
efforts in Bahrain, known as SHADE (Shared Awareness and
Deconfliction). European officials speaking at the
conference announced China would soon be alternating SHADE
leadership with the EU, NATO, and Combined Maritime Forces
(CMF),described changing pirate tactics, and warned the
Somali piracy problem was quickly evolving into an Indian
Ocean problem, threatening vital Europe-Asia sea lanes.
Conference attendees strongly opposed the arming of merchant
ships and called for a stronger international naval force
presence. END SUMMARY

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China Urges Cooperation on Piracy Fight; Wants to Lead
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2. (SBU) Speaking at the inaugural International Piracy
Conference in Hong Kong on November 13, Senior Captain Hu
Gang Feng, the Beijing-based PLA Deputy Director of Naval
Bureau, Operations Department of General Staff Headquarters,
and Commander Liang Wei, Deputy Chief of Operations for the
PLA Navy's South Sea Fleet, explained China would commit its
naval resources to Somali anti-piracy operations and fulfill
its international obligations until security and stability
was brought to the region. The conference, co-hosted by Hong
Kong's branch of the Nautical Institute (NI) and the Hong
Kong Ship Owners Association (HKSOA),was attended by over
140 members of Hong Kong's maritime industry, including ship
owners, managers, financiers, lawyers, insurers, and
suppliers, as well as a large press corps. The high level of
attendance can be explained in part by timing, coming just
two days after Hong Kong-flagged oil tanker, the BW Lion,
escaped a two-hour Somali pirate attack 1,000 nautical miles
east of Mogadishu, and coinciding with ongoing negotiations
for the release of the hijacked Chinese ship De Xin Hai and
its crew of 25 on October 19.


3. (SBU) Since December 2008, China has deployed four warship
contingents of three-vessels each to Somali waters, the
latest of which arrived November 13. As of November 11,
China had assisted 1,110 merchant ships along the Gulf of
Aden (GOA) and the Somali Basin (SB) through convoy escorts,
security patrols, and the onboard deployment of special
tactical units on some Chinese-flagged vessels, Hu reported.
For his part, Liang stated that China would send two to three
additional contingents to the HOA this year and that the
pirate situation would dictate the tempo of future
deployment. Liang added China was committed and had the
capabilities to protect its merchant fleet but would like to
enhance international cooperation and bring multiplier
effects to regional peace and security efforts, while also
benefiting from unprecedented multinational participation.


4. (SBU) Hu deployed with the second PLA contingent to Somali

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waters from April to August and recommended greater
intelligence sharing among international navies on piracy
activity and methods, as well as sharing naval tactics and
capabilities between members of the international naval
security and escort force. Hu's recommendation echoed a
November 10 official request by Beijing authorities to allow
it to co-lead monthly anti-piracy meetings in Bahrain. The
monthly SHADE meetings serve to coordinate and plan
deployments for the over 40 navies participating in
anti-piracy activities off the Somali coast. The EU, NATO,
and CMF currently rotate SHADE's leadership role.

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SHADE Welcomes Opportunity to Collaborate with China
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5. (SBU) Royal Navy Commodore Timothy Lowe, Deputy Commander
for CMF, briefed attendees on increased pirate activity far
beyond the GOA and the SB since August 2008. Pirates were
changing tactics, he said, to employ "mother" ships in
support of smaller assault skiffs, allowing them to move away
from the coast. Lowe lamented that the counter-piracy navies
had limited assets to patrol such an expansive area and were
constantly pulled away for other regional missions, such as
countering drug and human trafficking, terrorism, or to
pursue individual mandates, such as the EU's protection of
World Food Program (WFP) shipping and ad-hoc protection of
national merchant vessels by their countries' navies. Lowe
announced the additional commitment of naval assets by the
EU, Russia, Malaysia, Iran, and India, and welcomed China's
recent request to join international coordination efforts.


6. (C) Noting China would undoubtedly join SHADE "in the very
near future," Commodore Lowe confided to EconOff at the end
of the conference the challenges faced during the early
November meetings he attended in Beijing, when China
officially made its request to join. His frustration
emanated from what he described was the Chinese military
leaders' unwillingness to or unfamiliarity with "compromise."
However, Lowe and a large number of conference attendees
expressed "surprise" at the ease and confidence with which
Senior Captain Hu and Commander Liang addressed participants
and the media throughout the conference, including a one-hour
panel discussion, perhaps an indication that PLA officials
are slowly embracing the notion of multinational cooperation.

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Somali Piracy Evolving into Indian Ocean Piracy
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7. (SBU) Mr. Simon Church, Industry Liaison Officer for the
Marine Security Center, Horn of Africa (MSCHOA),European
Union Naval Force (EUNAVFOR),warned attendees that the
piracy threat off Somali waters was quickly spreading to the
vital Europe-Asia sea lanes of the Indian Ocean. He cited
the recent attack on the BW Lion close to the distant
Seychelles islands and an up-tick in pirate activity near the
Indian coast, beyond the 62nd meridian East. He attributed
the long range attacks to calmer seas as the monsoon season
came to a close and to the presence of pirate "mother" ships
in the area. Church endorsed existing maritime industry Best
Management Practices (BMP) to deter piracy, such as (1)
enhancing ship perimeter defenses with high pressure water
hoses, barbed wire, netting, and sandbags; (2) deploying

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watch officers around the clock; (3) training in evasive sea
maneuvering techniques; and (4) communicating with the United
Kingdom's Maritime Trade Office (UKMTO) in Dubai when
transiting these waters.

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Law Enforcement on the Money Trail
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8. (SBU) Hong Kong Police Superintendent Lawrence Wong,
seconded as team leader to INTERPOL's Criminal Organizations
and Violent Crime Unit in Lyon, France, explained the
organization's involvement in the fight against Somali
piracy, a cross border crime. Wong introduced INTERPOL's
maritime anti-piracy Project Bada (Korean word for ocean) and
announced the INTERPOL Global Conference on Maritime Piracy
Financial Investigations to be held early next year in Lyon.
The conference would look at topics such as the global money
trail of piracy operations, money laundering, asset recovery,
and known piracy financing methods.


9. (C) Privately, Wong expressed frustration with the
international community's reluctance to prosecute pirates
outside the Horn of Africa, the lack of law enforcement
capacity in the African region, and the slow pace of judicial
courts in the few regional countries willing to prosecute
these crimes. He said that at present, the Somali pirates'
"business model" was one of high profit returns and little
operational risk, which would continue to pose challenges on
the high seas unless law and order improved in Somali shores.
If there were evidence that ransom payments were supporting
Somalia's civil war or terrorist activity, the industry and
military would be forced to change the way they dealt with
piracy, said Wong. To date, however, available evidence did
not suggest such linkages.

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Arms on Ships Do Not Ensure Safety of Crews
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10. (SBU) Attendees were unified in their strong opposition
to arming merchant ships to combat piracy. Captain Li
Chi-wai, Hong Kong Seamen's Union Chairman, stated seafarers
were not soldiers and lacked weapons training. Instead, Li
hoped international navies would form a United Nations force
to establish safe trade corridors while simultaneously
pursuing and disabling pirate "mother" ships active in the
region. Hong Kong's Marine Department Director Roger Tupper
opposed the use of armed private security guards on ships but
welcomed military escorts with clear training on rules of
engagement. However, their employment should only be
temporary while the international community dealt with the
current limitations of reduced naval patrolling assets,
ineffective regional law enforcement and judicial courts, and
Somalia's internal conflict. Father Stephen Miller, Managing
Director for Anglican Church-rooted Mission to Seafarers at
the Dubai International Seafarers Centre, argued arming
merchant crews would not provide a solution to the piracy
problem nor would it make crews any safer. Rather, such
measures would lead to a more violent escalation of the
problem. Father Miller encouraged ship owners and managers
to invest in BMP and train crews at evasive techniques.
MARUT