Somalia is one of the least developed countries in the world, and due to the continuous civil war, the social and educational system has collapsed for many years, and because it is the only sea route for freight ships from all over the world to enter and leave the Suez Canal.
Therefore, the local people have been engaged in piracy since the 20th century, the country's pirates to extort merchant ships, ransom or loot goods for a living, and everyone knows that Somali pirates are robbing the sky, grabbing the land, grabbing the air, very rampant, whether you are a fighting nation or a beautiful country, robbing you is not negotiable.
According to statistics, there are now about 20,000 ships passing through the Suez Canal every year, most of which pass through the Gulf of Aden, where there is an average of one robbery every four days. In 2008, Somalia demanded a ransom of $120 million from around the world, totaling nearly one billion yuan.
But in 2018, when a Syrian merchant ship passed through the Gulf of Aden, it encountered Somali pirates, and the captain was very clever, and immediately hung up China's five-star red flag, and the pirates turned their heads and ran away after seeing it. So what's going on here? What is the reason behind this?
As early as the 17th century AD, Somalia was a country with a spice civilization, although the country was not large, but it was relatively peaceful, and the somali people's life was also tasteful. However, in the mid-19th century, the calm days of the Somali people were completely broken by outsiders, and the Western powers drove strong ships and cannons to invade Andmali by force, followed by decades-long colonization.
It was not until 1960 that a new State was established in Somali, but the occupation of Somalia for so long left the country with many problems that gave Somalia a superficially calm, but in fact very chaotic scene.
In 1991, there was great unrest in Somalia, which was in the midst of a period of warlord domination and rapid social unrest. Somalia is unable to achieve reunification, and prolonged social unrest has not only impoverished Somalia, but also left the Somali people in dire straits.
Although the warlords of Somari lived a very moist life, the people at the grassroots level were hungry every day, and the biggest luxury of the people at this time was to eat a full meal, and these warlords never cared about the lives of the people, and only thought about how to expand their sphere of influence.
After the U.S. intervention in 2006, the situation deteriorated again, with much of the country in anarchy, displaced people, and shortages of supplies, and in an era when everyone was worried about their livelihoods, piracy naturally became a means of food and clothing.
The most important thing is the fluke psychology of the shipping company, because of the uncertainty of the pirate attack, the high cost of security makes many shipping companies prohibitive, and if you choose to bypass the Somali sea, you can only pass through the Cape of Good Hope region of South Africa, which requires a lot of manpower, material and financial resources.
Therefore, many shipping company's cargo ships will choose to take risks, choosing to pass through Somali waters without the protection of warships and armed personnel, and these freighters have become the fat sheep of pirates.
About 20,000 ships pass through the Suez Canal every year, most of them through the Gulf of Aden, and the Gulf of Aden is mentioned, but under the eyes of Somali pirates, there is an average of one sea robbery every four days. The sea area where the Gulf of Aden is located is still a very important line of communication, and the influence of this group of pirates is still quite large, not only interfering with the normal law and order behavior of various countries, but also constantly making trouble.
We all know that this group of people who can do anything for money is absolutely not afraid of oppression, the cargo ships of various countries are very worried when passing through the Gulf of Aden, interception and robbery often occur, once resisted, life or will be threatened, this psychology is also one of the important reasons why they can repeatedly succeed.
Pirates are not a mess, from the beginning of the small fight gradually evolved into a well-organized, well-trained, fierce organization. According to the current data, the number of pirates in the Gulf of Aden has exceeded several thousand, and this data is still increasing.
However, due to years of war and turmoil, the culture of pirates is limited, and the difference between warships and merchant ships cannot be distinguished, so there are often strange incidents of robbing warships in Somali waters. In the face of this situation, various countries have not thought of ways, and in order to drive them out of this sea, warships have not been sent out.
But in 2012, the fearless Somali pirates, riding only in a speedboat, went straight to rob the U.S. warship. What is shocking is that in the face of the advanced weapons of the United States, they can even catch up and exchange fire while fighting, and even Somali pirates have been selected as the influential figures of the AMERICAN "Time Magazine".
But even such a rampant pirate, no one would have thought that they had a surprising rule, which was that they could not rob Chinese merchant ships! There are two reasons why rampant Somali pirates do not rob Chinese, the first is historical reasons, which begins with Zheng He's voyage to the West.
When Zheng He went to the West to the east coast of Africa, in addition to Zheng He's exchanges with the people on the east coast of Africa, a part of the crew was left here, and a large part of the crew members who were left on the east coast voluntarily stayed and lived.
The other part was because their ships had been damaged by natural disasters after bad natural weather, and they could not catch up with the large troops who had left, so that there was no way to do so, the crews had to stay on the east coast of Africa, and some male crew members intermarried with local women, and then had children and remained in the land forever.
Even today, there are still Chinese descendants in some parts of Kenya, Africa, and archaeology has found that these villages of Chinese descendants on the east coast of Africa still maintain traditional customs such as burning ceramics and headstones towards China.
And after DNA comparison through modern technology, it can be determined that there are indeed descendants of Chinese in this village, which is the first reason why Chinese receive special treatment, of course, this alone is not enough to make them special treatment.
The second reason is that our country has helped Somalia substantially. According to relevant statistics, from the 1960s to the 1980s, the mainland provided more than 6 million pounds of interest-free loans to Somalia, and in 1963 to 64, the mainland provided more than 3 million US dollars of aid to Somalia.
You must know that the mainland at that time was also in a period of waste, and in addition to this money, our country also provided assistance to the roads, water conservancy and medical care in Somali.
China's assistance to Somalia has made the Somali people see and remember, so their psychology has a sense of gratitude to Chinese, even if the people of Somali become pirates, they will not forget Chinese kindness to themselves.
At the time of the epidemic, China has donated another 500,000 doses of vaccines to Somalia, and for Somalia, no country can provide them with such assistance, making them feel a friendship of suffering and true feelings.
It is even said that in the shipping world there is such a saying, how can a merchant ship resist pirates? Very simply, with the Chinese flag, Somali pirates would not have robbed the merchant ship. Of course, this is not a joke, but a real thing, in 2018, a merchant ship from Syria flew a Chinese flag on its own ship to escape the attack of Somali pirates.
When the freighter from Syria planted the Chinese flag and passed through the Gulf of Aden, the pirates saw the Chinese flag and thought that the freighter belonged to China, so they let the freighter go, which shows how high China's status is in the hearts of the Somali people. But even if Somali pirates have great respect for China, it is better for everyone to go here less.
Although most Somalis have a grateful heart for Chinese and have extra respect and love for Chinese, this does not prevent some mad people who do not understand what gratitude is and still want to hurt their benefactors, just like the island people next to us.
And Somalia is still a country that is still in turmoil, and there are often some turmoil and hurtful things in Somalia, so for our own safety, we still have to go to Somalia less.
But it is undeniable that Somali pirates know that thanks to China, they will not rob Chinese ships, which is still very beneficial to us!
![In '08, Canadian journalists were imprisoned in Somalia for 460 days, and they were treated inhumanely[fig]](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=)