The PLA at Home and Abroad - Strategic Studies Institute - U.S. Army

tional counterparts. Combined Task Force 151 (CTF-
151) was established on January 8, 2009, under U.S.
leadership, specifically to combat piracy in the Gulf of
Aden. 120 The Commander of CTF-151, Rear Admiral
Terry McKnight, has indicated that he will continue
to recruit partner nations to expand the current 14-nation,
20-ship effort. 121 A separate German-led coalition
of NATO and EU allies, along with other willing participants,
conduct Maritime Security Operations in the
region under the broader charter of CTF-150.
From the outset, Beijing has been “ready to exchange
information and cooperate with the warships of
other countries in fighting Somalian pirates,” according
to MNDIO deputy spokesman Huang Xueping. 122
Admiral Du Jingcheng, commander of the first deployment,
said his forces would “not accept the command
of other countries or regional organizations,”
but rather “facilitate exchanges of information with
escort naval vessels from other countries.” 123 There has
been gradual increase in communications with vessels
from the United States and over 20 other countries and
several shipboard exchanges of commanding officers
and CTF 151 staff. 124 Email exchanges have increased
markedly over time, with over 300 exchanged with
foreign vessels during the first deployment alone. The
PLAN uses a Yahoo email account and “unclassified
chat” on an instant messaging system. 125 Methods for
sea and air coordination and intelligence sharing have
been exchanged, with exchange of relevant videos
and photos, as well as best practices on identifying
and handling pirate vessels discussed. 126 According
to a U.S. destroyer commanding officer in the Gulf of
Aden: “[We] talk with the Chinese destroyers by VHF
radio to coordinate search patterns and to exchange
information on suspicious ships. [We] also have co-
323