China will send two navy destroyers and a support vessel to the Gulf of Aden to combat piracy off the Somalia coast, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Saturday, according to state media.
The Chinese warships will leave on December 26 to join the growing number of international warships patrolling off Somalia, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Liu Jianchao said, the state Xinhua news agency reported.
Several Chinese ships have been attacked by pirates in recent months.
”Their major task is to protect the safety of Chinese ships and crew on board as well as ships carrying humanitarian relief material for the international organisations, such as the United Nations World Food Programme,” Liu said.
China said on Thursday it was preparing to send warships, one day after one of its commercial vessels foiled a pirate attack.
The UN Security Council this week gave nations battling armed pirates in the Gulf of Aden a one-year mandate to act inside lawless Somalia. Liu said that the Chinese navy deployment was in accordance with UN resolutions.
”Chinese naval vessels will strictly follow UN Security Council resolutions and international laws. They are willing to work with other countries and to take part in humanitarian relief tasks,” said.
The crew of a Chinese cargo ship fought off pirates in the Gulf of Aden on Wednesday with the help of international forces in the region.
Liu said after the attack that seven ships owned by Chinese companies, carrying Chinese crews or carrying cargo from China, had been hit by pirates in the Gulf of Aden in the first 11 months of 2008.
Pirates have carried out more than 100 attacks this year in the key shipping lanes south of Yemen and north of Somalia, and in the Indian Ocean east of Somalia.
Last month, they hijacked a Saudi super-tanker, the Sirius Star, carrying two million barrels of crude oil.
It is one of about 17 ships, including a Chinese vessel, that have fallen into pirate hands. — Sapa-AFP