Here is a lin to the BBC story about the hijacking of a Chinese ship by Somali pirates.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8315630.stm
I think this will be an interesting story to watch as if unfolds for a number of reasons. First of I think the Chinese government doesn't care about the crew of the ship as they do about being beaten by a handful of thugs. I think for them it would be embarrassing to look weak and I don't think they will do it. I have a feeling that they will take a position similar to: "We don't want to negotiate. You took our ship and made us look bad. Now we are going to catch you and sell your organs." There is even a slight possibility they may even wipe out the land based infrastructure.
So it will be interesting to see:
1. What the Chinese response is as compared to the US, EU and other countries.
2. What standards the Chinese will be held to as compared to the US, EU, and other countries.
What do you think will happen?
Quote from: RickJ on Wed 21/10/2009 01:29:47
First of I think the Chinese government doesn't care about the crew of the ship as they do about being beaten by a handful of thugs. I think for them it would be embarrassing to look weak and I don't think they will do it. I have a feeling that they will take a position similar to: "We don't want to negotiate. You took our ship and made us look bad. Now we are going to catch you and sell your organs." There is even a slight possibility they may even wipe out the land based infrastructure.
I don't understand why you have that thought, but AFAIK the Chinese government already sent a fleet with 800 crews to rush to the rescue. I heard that in today's morning news.
The news story reports that the pirates warn that the crew will be killed if a rescue attempt is made. I didn't think they would pay any attention to such threats. and from what you say here
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... the Chinese government already sent a fleet with 800 crews to rush to the rescue.
it would appear that my intuition was correct. This isn't a criticism of China; I'm rooting for them and hope they kick some sereious butt. In my original post I state that it will be interesting to see if China actually does go in and kick butt and if they do will they get any criticism from the EU and the "peace at any cost" crowd.
Go China!! Open a can of whoopass!
Well if they kill everyone involved and sell their organs, as you speculate, I suspect they will indeed get some criticism from the "peace at any cost" crowd.
I think it's also important to read up on the background of the Somali pirating movement, which has a lot to do with illegal fishing in their waters and illegal waste dumping on their shores.
Naturally, this doesn't excuse pirating, but it's a part of an explanation to why it exists.
It seems to be a global problem... A Spanish ship, the "Alakrana" has been hijacked for about a month... "We" captured two pirates, but we will free them, one for legal problems and the other because we suspect he is just 17... Funny, eh?
I just don't understand your reasoning. Why would you think we could start a war because of this? In fact, during the recent years it showed that the Mainland government would rather just act as if they are serious and give out words of threatening, instead of really bombing others. It would be more possible for a larger country like the United States to really take such action according to recent past history (err... maybe not since the current president got the Nobel Prize in peace).
Also, there is no reason and quite rude to speculate the government will care less about her citizens and would not think of helping them. The problem is, it's currently in a difficult situation to decide what suitable measure can be taken.
And what's with the organ selling part?
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And what's with the organ selling part?
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If you google harvesting organs from prisoners (http://www.google.com/search?q=harvesting+organs+from+prisoners&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=com.ubuntu:en-US:official&client=firefox-a) you get page after page of news stories such as "China Admits to Harvesting Organs From Prisoners", " China Harvests Organs From Prisoners", "China May Stop Harvesting Organs From Executed Prisoners ", etc. Here are just few from the first page of search results.
- http://www.huliq.com/3257/85462/china-harvests-organs-prisoners-report
- http://snafu-ed.blogspot.com/2009/08/china-admits-to-harvesting-organs-from.html
- http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2009/08/28/china-may-stop-harvesting-organs-from-executed-prisoners/
- http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=harvesting+organs+from+prisoners&oe=utf-8&rls=com.ubuntu:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=Q77eSpyHGIv8sQPWwInYDw&sa=X&oi=video_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CCQQqwQwAw#
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I just don't understand your reasoning. Why would you think we could start a war because of this? In fact, during the recent years it showed that the Mainland government would rather just act as if they are serious and give out words of threatening, instead of really bombing others. peace). ...
... Also, there is no reason and quite rude to speculate the government will care less about her citizens and would not think of helping them.
Isn't it true that the Peoples Republic of China has a history of dealing harshly with people who cross them? And as for regard of their own citizens here are a few infamous examples from 1989
- http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=tienamen%20square&oe=utf-8&rls=com.ubuntu:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=enab=wv#
- http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=tienamen%20square&oe=utf-8&rls=com.ubuntu:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=enab=wv#
and some more recent examples
- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04
- /04/AR2008040402982.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns
It's this history that leads me to speculate that the pirate situation wioth be dealt with quickly and harsly. They will of course attempt to rescue the crew but threats of the crew being executed if an attempt is made, IMHO, will not enter into the decision making process.