Somali Piracy and Shifting Geopolitical Relations in the Indian Ocean
The emergence of new maritime actors in the Indian Ocean is causing major changes in great power relations in the region. Somali piracy in the north-western Indian Ocean is accelerating this process, as a great number of countries have become involved in counterpiracy missions. In 2008 piracy attacks on international shipping in the Gulf of Aden and other parts of the Western Indian Ocean reached such a level that they generated widespread attention in international media. For both Europe and China, their naval responses to Somali piracy represent a new stage in their involvement in international maritime security.
On the European side, the EU is undertaking its first ever naval operation under its Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). Although individual member states have been active in the region through missions of NATO and the US-led Combined Maritime Forces (CMF), the EU as a joint actor was previously not active in waters beyond the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. For China, the Somali mission is the first major naval operation outside the western Pacific Ocean.
This chapter explores how counterpiracy missions affect relations between China and Europe in international security. Three questions in particular will be addressed. First, what are the interests and activities of China and Europe with regard to counterpiracy activities off Somalia? Second, how do China's and the EU's counterpiracy missions relate to each other? And third, how does the involvement of the EU and China in counterpiracy affect Indian Ocean geopolitics? Regarding the European side, this chapter focuses on the counterpiracy mission by the European Union (in which Europe acts autonomously) rather than on those that take place through NATO or CMF.
