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| Africa Horn |
| China to Pirates: All Your Base Are Belong to Us |
| 2011-05-25 |
| Just how hated are the pirates of Somalia? This much: China’s top general is suggesting that the rest of the world put aside their differences, and team up to launch amphibious assaults on the pirates’ onshore havens. In comments at the National Defense University yesterday, General Chen Bingde, the chief of general staff of China’s People’s Liberation Army, called for military action against Somali pirate bosses on land, not just against their minions at sea. “For counter-piracy campaigns to be effective, we should probably move beyond the ocean and crash their bases on the land,” Reuters quoted Gen Bingde as saying. Pax Kitai |
| Posted by:Zebulon Thranter9685 |
| #8 Who's money DK? |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2011-05-25 23:00 |
| #7 Anonymoose, China's gotten a lot of mileage out of its "harmless but rich" economic-diplomatic stance in Latin America and Africa. That only works so long as they accept their half-junior-partner, half-rival hybrid status vis-a-vis the one superpower. They've been playing the economic role of imperial-era Great Britain without the colonial threat that came with that role, investing the proceeds of industrialization by buying up all the markers they could get in the resource-rich countries. Best of both worlds, really, because they could get away with being right bastards without seriously scaring the locals. If they suddenly prove to be able to pull off an old-fashioned British imperial "butcher and bolt", then suddenly they're not just a neutered British Empire, they're an actual junior British Empire. |
| Posted by: Mitch H. 2011-05-25 16:51 |
| #6 How hard can it be? They run away at the drop of a hat. Just follow them and sink them. |
| Posted by: gorb 2011-05-25 15:45 |
| #5 China is more than welcome to spend their own money on this pirate raid. |
| Posted by: DK70 the Scantily Clad7177 2011-05-25 14:51 |
| #4 If I remember correctly the Western powers rejected this approach because of hostages still in pirate hands. Of course there aren't any Han captives, so no skin off the General's nose. |
| Posted by: Mercutio 2011-05-25 14:48 |
| #3 This is actually a concern. If China decided to launch a unilateral action against these bases, it would change the military equation around the world, because it would amount to the first effective force-projection China had pulled off in modern times. And force-projection is essential if a nation is to be recognized as a world power. Were I in that general's shoes, and I had authorization, I would treat this minor activity as if it was D-Day, sending in ten times the forces needed, and just leave smoking craters behind. The training and practical applications value of doing this to a military would be immense. The lessons learned would be worth a cross-the-board refit and upgrade of their entire military, the morale boost would be worth its weight in platinum, and the general responsible would be on the political fast track. Chinese foreign policy would be on steroids for a decade, and popular sentiment would be through the roof. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2011-05-25 14:15 |
| #2 Too indiscriminate, not everybody is a pirate. However - parking a looking glass overhead and watching who goes where, and in which buildings, might provide a nice target list for some surprise visitors. Helicopter-borne if you're interested in taking prisoners, a frigate if you're not. |
| Posted by: mojo 2011-05-25 13:53 |
| #1 I know an Arc-lite strike on the coast will go a long way to stopping the pirates. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2011-05-25 13:49 |