Asian antipiracy meet opens in Japan<\/p>\n
TOKYO (AFP): Japan convened on Thursday the first ever
\nconference to discuss collective measures against mounting
\nattacks on ships in Asia by organized gangs of pirates.<\/p>\n
Coastguard officials and maritime policymakers from 16 Asian
\ncountries were meeting at a Tokyo hotel for the Regional
\nConference on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships.<\/p>\n
\"Piracy has been occurring frequently in Southeast Asia, and
\nthis affects the prosperity of the whole of Asia,\" Japanese Prime
\nMinister Yoshiro Mori said in an address opening the two-day
\nconference.<\/p>\n
\"The need for cooperation among countries concerned is
\nincreasing,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Participants include high-ranking maritime safety officials
\nfrom Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, which face the
\nnotoriously dangerous Malacca Strait.<\/p>\n
Officials from Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Hong Kong,
\nIndia, Myanmar, the Philippines, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand
\nand Vietnam were also attending.<\/p>\n
The first meeting of its kind also drew observers from the
\nUnited States, Russia and Australia.<\/p>\n
\"This conference has to focus on the problem of piracy and sea
\nrobbery, especially in the Malacca Strait,\" Korean Maritime
\nAgency chief Kim Jong-woo told AFP. \"The heads of coastguard
\nagencies are here to discuss how to tackle this problem.\"<\/p>\n
Kim said he hoped the conference would achieve \"such things as
\nexchanges of information regarding piracy and sea robbery, and to
\nallow joint exercises among countries.\"<\/p>\n
A Japanese proposal for joint exercises and patrols by
\ncoastguards received wide backing as delegates discussed their
\nfinal communique to be issued on Friday, an AFP correspondent
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
India also proposed countries use joint patrol ships for
\nsearch-and-rescue missions, oil spills, anti-drugs trafficking
\nand to protect the marine environment.<\/p>\n
The conference was initially proposed by former prime minister
\nKeizo Obuchi last November. Mori replaced Obuchi on April 5 after
\nthe former premier suffered a stroke.<\/p>\n
In March, Asian coastguard and maritime agencies agreed to set
\nup piracy information exchange centers in a joint bid to stem
\nrising armed robbery against ships on the high seas.<\/p>\n
While most ship crews overcome by pirates escape with their
\nlives, there has been a series of grisly attacks which has
\nfocused attention on the growing scourge mainly affecting Asian
\nwaters.<\/p>\n
While attacks rose last year, the number of murders dropped
\ndramatically -- from a horrific 78 worldwide in 1998 to three in
\n1999.<\/p>\n
The decline followed an outcry in the industry. Another factor
\nwas China's decision to clamp down following international
\ncriticism for doing too little.<\/p>\n
In January it executed 13 pirates, including gang leader Weng
\nSiliang, convicted of massacring 23 crewmen on the Hong Kong-
\nowned Cheung Son in November 1998. Weng was said to have hooded a
\ncrewman and clubbed him to death.<\/p>\n
Worldwide, pirate attacks surged nearly 40 percent last year
\nfrom 1998 and almost tripled compared with 1991, according to the
\nKuala Lumpur-based Piracy Reporting Center.<\/p>\n
A total of 203 attacks, or over two-thirds of the total of
\n285, took place in just seven countries -- Indonesia (113),
\nBangladesh (23), Malaysia (18), India (14), Singapore Straits
\n(13), Somalia (11) and Nigeria (11).<\/p>\n
Pirate attacks almost doubled off Indonesia, the country
\nhardest hit by the regional financial crisis which erupted in
\nmid-1997, compared to 1998.<\/p>\n
The most dangerous type of attack involves international
\nsyndicates operating \"phantom ships,\" in which a ship is seized,
\nits crew may be murdered and its appearance changed, according to
\nthe International Maritime Bureau.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/asian-antipiracy-meet-opens-in-japan-1447893297",
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