China deploys 3 ships to fight pirates off Somalia

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China will send two destroyers and a supply vessel to the seas off Somalia to back international efforts to fight piracy, the official Xinhua news agency quoted the defense ministry as saying on Saturday.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said the taskforce would patrol the Gulf of Aden and waters off Somalia, Xinhua said.

The ships will depart from Sanya in the southern province of Hainan on December 26, in what would be the first operation of its kind for Beijing.

NATO ships began anti-piracy operations off the Somali coast in late October, but they have failed to stop the hijackings, and other nations are now pitching in.

A multilateral force rescued the Chinese ship, Zhenhua 4, from Somali pirates on Wednesday. Piracy in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean off Somalia has pushed up insurance costs and forced some ships to take alternative routes.

"Chinese naval vessels will strictly follow U.N. Security Council resolutions and international laws. They are willing to work with other countries and to take part in humanitarian relief tasks," Liu said.

At a news conference on Thursday, Liu said 20 percent of Chinese ships passing through the waters off the Somali coast had been attacked by pirates from January to November this year.

China has traditionally kept troops close to home and out of international operations, reflecting a doctrine of non-interference in other nations' affairs.

But its growing wealth and influence have led to calls for it to take a greater role, even as Western nations fret about its increasing military power.

"We will continue working with armed forces of other countries to improve cooperation in various fields including safeguarding the international maritime sea lanes and enhance joint actions against new challenges and threats," Xinhua quoted the defense ministry as saying.

(Reporting by Jacqueline Wong; Editing by Elizabeth Piper)