In 2011, a Chinese-flagged merchant ship passed through the Red Sea near a city in western Yemen when it was besieged by Somali pirates.
In an emergency, the international frigate urgently began a battle with the Chinese escort group, driving away the pirates who were preparing to hijack the ship, and finally allowing the merchant ship to sail safely out of the Red Sea.
In the months from early 2020 to October alone, there were 132 incidents of piracy around the world, and they remained "stable" at more than 100 per year.
According to the analysis, the main area where Somali pirates are active is near the Gulf of Guinea off the coast of West Africa, where pirates have a greater chance of succeeding, and most of them directly kidnap crew members and extort ransom.
Over the past 20 years, as many as 610 ships have been hijacked by pirates in the Gulf of Guinea, accounting for 95 per cent of the world's piracy incidents.
To this end, the mainland embassy constantly sends reminder text messages to local citizens and enterprises every day, urging Chinese enterprises and citizens to pay attention to safety.
At the same time, the mainland embassy has strengthened its awareness of security protection, improved the early warning and emergency handling mechanism, and reduced the risk of danger for Chinese citizens in the Gulf of Guinea as much as possible.
So, where did the pirates in Somalia come from? Why are they so rampant? What is the root cause of the repeated piracy incidents?
Factors in the rampant Somali pirates
In 2008, the United Nations passed four resolutions calling on countries around the world to join the fight against Somali piracy.
As one of the five permanent members of the United Nations, China felt a heavy responsibility, so it actively responded and sent warships to escort the ships...
Somalia, a "creepy" smelling place, east of the African continent and adjacent to the Gulf of Aden, is the key place for the Indian Ocean to lead to the Red Sea, the Suez Canal, and the Mediterranean River Atlantic.
In the past, people would always call some "domineering side leakage" for more important or dangerous intersection areas, such as the "Cape of Good Hope" and "Golden Triangle", and Somalia was called the "Horn of Africa" with its natural and irreplaceable geographical advantages.
It is reported that as many as 20,000 ships flow into the Suez Canal from the Indian Ocean every year, and more than half of them have to pass through the Gulf of Aden in the Somali Sea to the Mediterranean or the Atlantic Ocean.
Because the Gulf of Aden is a necessary place for merchant ships to pass through, it is easy to give pirates the opportunity to attack, so the Somali region has become the biggest hidden danger in the world's maritime navigation industry.
So what are the reasons for the rampant piracy in the region?
First, political instability and economic stagnation are fundamental factors in the frequency of piracy. Somalia was colonized and carved up by imperialism more than 400 years ago, just like China during the Opium Wars.
During World War II, the British colonized the whole of Somalia, and after World War II, the British withdrew from the colonial area, Somalia was given a respite, but in essence it was still under British control.
In 1960, Somalia became a sovereign and independent State thanks to the efforts of several major powers and the United Nations.
However, because of the interference of Western forces, Somalia's internal struggle for power has never stopped, and the internal strife has kept the Somali people in dire straits.
Somalia is in chaos, and neighboring countries have also begun to follow suit, either competing with it for land or seizing maritime resources, making Somalia even more chaotic.
In the early 70s of last century, Somalia's policies of severe natural disasters and unbalanced decision-making led to the destruction of the domestic production system, the spread of corpses, the breeding of plague, and hundreds of thousands of people fled in all directions to survive.
In this poor and backward land, in order to seize living resources, people have successively launched criminal activities of "burning, killing and looting", and some even form teams to specifically engage in violent activities for a living.
Piracy is just one of the criminal activities carried out by the Somali people in order to make a living...
Second, the growing power of pirates and their independent armed forces are the main reasons why they are difficult to combat. Somali refugees initially participated in piracy by only a few dozen, and when they earned a good income from looting, they began to "recruit" and expand the ranks.
From the early 90s to around 2008, there were about 100 pirates active near the Gulf of Aden, but after 2013, it suddenly increased to 1,200.
Of course, the compromises between the pirates' ropes and spears in order to save their lives is also one of the factors that encourage the pirates' arrogance.
But once the pirates are left with the image of "good bullies", they will increase their efforts to rob passing ships and extort higher ransoms.
It is reported that since 2013, the "weapons" of Somali pirates have also entered the modernization, which also reflects from the side, and the "income" of pirates has reached an alarming level.
The pirates replaced their spears and knives with bazookas and AK47s, and skillfully used satellite positioning systems to accurately locate merchant ships in the process of intercepting ships.
At that time, the international naval ships confronted Somali pirates, not only were they not afraid, but they even dared to put the hostages on the deck and threaten the ceasefire of the warships.
Because the international navy advocates the defense of hostages and does not dare to act rashly, it has given Somali pirates unlimited "demonized" capital, so that they have become more rampant...
Third, the counter-effect of the hegemonic influence of the United States provides an opportunity for Somali pirates to continue to grow.
In 2001, the terrorist attack occurred at the World Trade Center in New York, and then US President Bush announced that he would launch a worldwide campaign against terrorists.
The Somali government was overthrown because it was suspected of being a safe haven for terrorists and pirates by the President of the United States.
After the overthrow, the United States supported a pro-American transitional government in Somalia and intended to rule the whole of Somalia with its hands.
As a result, this government not only failed to effectively control Somalia, but lost most of the region and allowed the organization of those areas to divide each other and form independent armed forces.
Somali pirate organizations also took this opportunity to catch the "special car" of the transitional government, took over the "business" of the entire Somali sea, and completely became the "sea master".
In 2008, Somali pirates, with the support of friendly forces of the Transitional Government, hijacked 45 international merchant ships and extorted a total ransom of US$120 million.
From 2020 to 2022, there were 442 incidents of piracy worldwide, which makes people wonder: why has the United Nations issued a series of documents to combat piracy, and the effect has always been minimal? Why not form a coalition army to annihilate the pirates in one fell swoop?
However, ideas are always full of "naïve" colors, and it is difficult to execute...
Somali pirates hold "death-free gold medal"
As mentioned earlier, some historical and practical factors that led to the rampant Somali pirates, and then we must talk about geographical factors and military and political factors, because these two factors eventually became the "death-free gold medal" for Somali pirates to save their lives.
The most frequent haunt of Somali pirates is the Gulf of Aden, where there are two world-famous seaports on the west side, namely the port of Aden and the port of Djibouti.
These two ports are necessary transit ports for all ships transiting the Indian Ocean into the Mediterranean and Atlantic routes.
It not only controls the southern exit of the Mediterranean, but also concerns the entire Middle East, and is the choke point that restricts the entry and exit of the Suez Canal, and its strategic location affects global maritime transportation.
Of course, Somali pirates are well aware of the impact of the Gulf of Aden on global trade...
Imagine what would happen if Somali pirates did not rob one day, but only interfered with the entry and exit of merchant ships, so that cargo ships were piled up in the port and could not get out?
As a simple example, in March 2021, a Chinese heavy container ship nearly 400 meters long, the Changci, ran aground in the Suez Canal, directly causing the channel to be blocked for a week.
The stranding incident delayed the delivery of orders on the freighter, domestic oil prices rose, shipping stocks plummeted, and even sea freight increased several times.
In addition, the freighter ran aground in the local area and paid the local canal authority $916 million in compensation depending on the time of the stranding.
If Somali pirates find ways to strand any container cruise ship or cargo ship carrying oil and food, it will not only affect the country's businesses, but also global food and oil prices, and pay huge stranding compensation at ports.
But because it was the pirates who did it, they also needed to pay an unknown amount of "ransom" to the pirates, in case a crew member was kidnapped, it was another matter...
For this reason, warships carrying out missions do not dare to engage with pirates, and if pirates threaten to take hostages, they are even less likely to open fire and can only negotiate peace.
At present, there is no effective international consensus to criminalize piracy, so some countries can only confiscate their tools of crime when dealing with pirates at sea, and cannot deal with pirates.
Based on this, it can be seen that most of the places where piracy is rampant involve the problem of sea power and throat waterways, which is very difficult to solve.
In addition to geographical factors, there are also political and military aspects. Politically, countries near Somali waters have always considered pirates to be active in "their own territory" rather than public waters.
Adhering to the principle of "hitting a dog depends on the owner", escort warships around the world must act according to the faces of countries around Somalia, after all, if it takes human life, the country's merchant ships will also bear greater "risks" when passing by here in the future.
Pirate communiqués aside, at the national level, it is also necessary to consider the bilateral relations between the country and countries such as Somalia, and the international influence it brings.
Militarily, the coastal states off the east coast of the continent, including Somalia, do not have the capacity to use their navies to fight piracy.
Somalia, in particular, is a mess in the country, with warlords on one side and pirates colluding with local armed forces.
Once the fire starts, it is also a war level at home, not to mention that there is no money at home, so it is even less likely that international warships will interfere in the internal affairs of other countries without the authorization of the other side.
Intervention diminishes the credibility of the United Nations, which is likely to unite warlords within Somalia and hijack more ships in retaliation.
This is an errand that is not worth the loss for any country in the world that comes to escort, so it cannot be helped.
In addition, most of the pirates are Somali paupers, and it is difficult for the international navy to distinguish who is a pirate when confronting pirates, and if the poor are injured by mistake, then the situation will escalate to the political level.
At that time, not only bilateral relations need to be considered, but also the hat of "attacking civilians" by evil forces, and eventually going to a military court, and losing money will not be able to wash this sludge.
Based on the above dual factors, Somali piracy has always been rampant, and it has been repeatedly banned, let alone killed, and the problem of Somali piracy will be a persistent problem.
Behind this is not only the interests of major powers, but also extremely complex geopolitical factors that cannot be ignored, and these factors are the "death-free gold medal" of Somali pirates for self-protection.
In this way, the countries of the world can only strengthen themselves as much as possible, send warships to protect their merchant ships from encroachment, and there is no other way...
The mainland's well-developed legislation on piracy
For the mainland, to send warships on missions to the Gulf of Aden, there must be a clear official purpose, or "to combat piracy" or "to carry out escort missions."
Obviously, the Continental Army ships chose "escort", and it was an escort on the premise of safeguarding national interests.
Since the national interest is at stake, it is necessary to have a set of legal norms for escort, otherwise there is not even a basic reason to respond when harassed by pirates.
However, the reality is that the mainland does not have a regulation that explicitly punishes the crime of piracy, but it can refer to the legislative provisions of Canada, Russia and other countries, and add the crime of "piracy" or "armed robbery of ships" to the mainland's Criminal Law to strengthen the legal basis for escorting navigation.
The scope of the definition of these two offences can be derived from all unlawful acts committed on the high seas, the territorial waters of any country, exclusive economic zones, disputed waters, i.e. robbery, assault, detention, kidnapping, plunder, armed attack, etc., against any group, organization or institution with "achieving private aims" as the main argument.
It will never leave any legal loopholes for today's pirates, of course, add crimes, and also need to consider the sentencing of conviction.
This can be seen entirely from the amount of property plundered by pirates, as well as the extent of the damage to the affected ships,
The degree of injury of the crew, that is, mental, property, physical safety, etc., is comprehensively considered and determined.
Admittedly, this is just a beautiful "hypothesis", and to form a complete system of "piracy crimes", continuous efforts and the continuous support of the international community are needed.
Over time, if the international community reaches an effective consensus on combating piracy, it will develop a set of corresponding legal norms.
It will definitely rewrite the rules of global shipping, and at that time, China, as the main representative of the world peace forces, can also use this to refresh its foreign business card.