57 % increase in pirate attacks

["Scott" <becubed@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Snipped from a maritime news site

International Maritime Bureau reports 57 % increase in pirate attacks
03-02-01 There has been a colossal rise in the number of pirate attacks in the
crowded shipping lanes of southeast Asia as the region lurches into an uncertain
era. The London-based International Maritime Bureau reports a 57 % increase
in pirate attacks on ships last year over 1999, most of them in the South China
Sea and Malacca Strait. 
More disturbing, 72 seafarers were killed by pirates and another 26 are still
missing against three murdered in 1999. Again, most of the killings were by
pirates in southeast Asia and the Far East. Growing instability in Indonesia,
the world's fourth most populous country, accounts for much of the increase
in piracy on some of the world's busiest sea lanes, the Maritime Bureau says.

Under lobbying from the bureau, which is financed by the International Chambers
of Commerce and ship owners, some Asian governments have begun to respond to
the pirate threat by mounting more aggressive naval patrols and coordinating
their response. Behind this enthusiasm, however, are more far-reaching considerations
about the security balance in Asia. Key elements are concerns about China's
regional ambitions and the continued willingness of the United States to play
regional policeman. 

The result is the determination with which Japan and India are offering to cooperate
with southeast Asian countries on anti-piracy campaigns as a convenient cover
for broader strategic alliances. There are already solid signs of Tokyo and
New Delhi cementing maritime alliances in the region before China's efforts
to acquire a blue water navy enable it to project power into the South China
Sea. 
China claims historic ownership of almost all the sea which covers substantial
oil and natural gas reserves. Beijing is in dispute with Vietnam, the Philippines,
Malaysia, Brunei, Taiwan and Indonesia over territorial waters and the Paracel
and Spratly chains of islands. 
China appeared to renew testing pressure on the Philippines, seen as the weak
naval link in the region and on which Beijing has been exerting for several
years. It is probably no coincidence that is happening as the Philippines is
embroiled in the fallout from the ouster of president Joseph Estrada. 
A group of Chinese fishing boats are in a tense standoff with Philippine navy
ships on Scarborough Shoal, well within Manila's territorial waters just off
Subic Bay. The fishing boats refuse to move and Beijing is accusing Manila of
harassment. 
Five years ago the Chinese built what appeared to be armed, military blockhouses
on Philippine islands on Mischief Reef. Beijing insisted they were only typhoon
shelters for fishers. As Japan assumes ever greater responsibility for regional
security from an increasingly reluctant Washington, Tokyo is unwilling to put
on a show of force. 
Much of the region still has bitter memories of Japan's imperial occupation
of most of southeast Asia in the 1940s and the sight of rising sun warships
again plying those waters would not go down well. Instead, Japan is offering
liaison with its coast guard, which despite its civilian colours is one of the
biggest and best armed fleets in Asia. 

Japan and Malaysia have already held joint anti-piracy exercises, as have Japan
and India. Meanwhile Malaysia and Thailand are to resume joint naval exercises
which were shelved four years ago, largely because of rivalry between the two
countries. 
This is symptomatic of the scramble for new alliances in the region before Chinese
naval power, being bought from Russia, becomes a serious issue. At the same
time Washington now has only one dependable ally in the region, Singapore, which
is building new dock facilities for US naval battle groups. 
There is also a naval arms buying spree going on in several Southeast Asian
capitals in an attempt to ensure maritime security. Most noticeable is the acquisition
by several countries of submarines, which have a real deterrent effect unlike
the surface ships which politicians usually prefer as a showy demonstration
of national pride. 
It has not helped China's reputation in the region that until recently its myriad
southern ports provided safe havens for pirates and their booty. After being
publicly rebuked by the International Maritime Bureau two years ago Beijing
has moved against some pirates, including public trials and executions of a
gang who murdered the entire crew of a ship taken near Hong Kong. 
But corruption among officials in China makes the response inconsistent. In
February last year the chemical tanker Global Mars was taken by pirates off
Malaysia and sailed to Chinese islands off the southern city of Zuhai. Four
months later Chinese authorities found the ship, renamed the Bulawan. But the
pirate crew of 11 Filipinos and nine Burmese had already bought off local officials
and had been flown to their homelands. 



Source: Vancouver Sun