Beijing: China has reiterated its demands for a stronger international action to defeat the scourge of piracy off Somalia.
"The issue of piracy off the Somali coast has always posed a serious threat to stability and development of the region as well as safety and security of international shipping," said Wang Min, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, when addressing the 12th Plenary Meeting of the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia.
"At present, acts of piracy are still running rampant. They are getting apparently industrialized and violent, with increased all-weather piracy capabilities and expanding scope of attacks," he said. "It is imperative for the international community to strengthen coordination and cooperation to cope with these developments."
The Chinese navy started to dispatch escort warships to the Gulf of Aden and the Somali waters in January 2009, he said. By the beginning of this July, China has dispatched 12 batches of 31 warships to engage in escort missions for 4,711 vessels in 469 batches, more than half of which are foreign vessels. [27/07/12]
