WASHINGTON, June 23, 2000-Masked pirates armed
with military-style weapons and speed boats are terrorizing
commercial shippers in Asian waters at an increasing rate,
threatening nearly half of the world's shipping and creating a
non-tariff trade barrier for American businesses, a new Heritage
Foundation paper says.
Attacks against commercial ships have tripled over the past
decade, with 285 reported cases last year alone, says Dana R.
Dillon, a Southeast Asia policy analyst in Heritage's Asian Studies
Center. Nearly two-thirds of those attacks occurred in the
pirate-infested waters of Asia, through which 45 percent of the
world's shipping moves.
Acts of maritime piracy range from the classic boarding and
hijacking of a merchant vessel on the high seas to the more common
act of stealing from a ship while it is anchored. Pirates usually
target the ship's stores, safe, and the crew's valuables. While few
pirates attempt to steal a ship or its primary cargo, almost all
reported acts of privacy involve armed intruders who threaten and
often injure, kidnap or kill members of the crew.
The Clinton administration has made some efforts to combat the
problem-such as holding regional seminars on the issue-but they are
insufficient, the analyst notes. The United States has not helped
institute security guidelines to protect Asian ports, where 70
percent of piracy acts occur. Safer ports will lead to fewer piracy
attacks, resulting in lower shipping costs and insurance fees,
Dillon says.
Dillon recommends the administration and Congress take several
low-profile and low-cost steps to help America's trading partners
combat privacy:
- Encourage governments in areas most affected by piracy to
publicly report all steps taken to combat piracy to make it clear
criminals will be arrested and to dispel any notion of
complicity.
- Recommend that the International Maritime Organization
establish specific port security measures, and that Asian countries
reform their maritime security forces, particularly in Southeast
Asia.
- Authorize funds for the U.S. Coast Guard to train foreign
maritime organizations to fight piracy.
"The administration must convince the governments in regions
most affected by piracy to demonstrate, clearly and purposefully,
their determination to stem the incidence of maritime piracy, to
crack down on corrupt maritime forces, and to secure their ports
and waters from the threat of piracy," Dillon says.