Article Link: https://apnews.com/article/somalia-piracy-chinese-fishing-vessel-bd3f39cc51d2fc0b34382885dd37d5d3
On January 13th 2025, China has said that a fishing vessel that was hijacked has been freed in Somalia with 18 crew members aboard the ship. The ship was hijacked and the pirates had demanded 10 million dollars as ransom. The hijacking took place in November of 2024 but has just gotten released after efforts made by the Chinese government. China has condemned this as they have said it violates the safety of the crew and international navigation security. Incidents with pirates have declined since the US and it’s allies put troops and ships within the region. Previous to this, attacks were frequent and widespread as pirates were on the rise.
Hijackings in the Somalia region are really frequent and obviously they have slowly decreased over the years with security guarantees from the US to prevent these pirates from seizing ships. I think that messing with such a large country that is becoming a world power and is competing with the US for global superpower is a big mistake. The hijackings effect not only the Chinese but everyone globally as ships need to pass through the region for goods to be transported and if waterways aren’t safe then transporting goods will be more expensive and more time consuming making it more costly. Pirates won’t go away for the foreseeable future but if China steps in to help secure the waterways then it will be much safer, but would compete with the US.
The Somali pirates could obviously stop hijacking the ships which won’t ever happen as they seek to make money through stealing others goods. With China becoming a global superpower they are most likely to send troops and ships to the region to secure the trade routes and waterways to make the passage safe. Obviously the government won’t like it’s people being bullied by other nations. The US is already maintaining safe passage in some regions in the world and China will most likely start doing the same in the future as it pulls out from some areas as it’s not in our self interest to protect it anymore. This is a big issue of security as it breaches the safety. It will also be most likely condemned under the IGO’s like the UN which see’s piracy as illegal and shouldn’t happen especially with people safety being in risk. China will also do anything in it’s self interest to if it means to eliminate and kill the pirates for their own safety and government interests then they will.