As incidents of piracy increase in the Strait of Malacca, the United States is stepping in to make its presence more prominent in the region, with the aim of safeguarding its trade and shipping interests.
The US will formally become the 20th member of the Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP), a Singapore-based organisation which aims to tackle maritime crime in the region.
“The high-risk waters of the Strait of Malacca are a concern for our US-flagged vessels,” said Robert Gauvin, executive director of piracy policy at the US Coast Guard, as reported by CNBC News‘s Ted Kemp.
The US also hopes that its membership in ReCAAP will dial down piracy in Southeast Asia before the situation devolves into one where pirates regularly take hostages for ransom. By last count, pirates on the Strait of Malacca last took hostages in 2012.
Pirates in the region usually turn a profit by reselling stolen products on the black market, sometimes by siphoning liquid cargoes from tankers wholesale and fleeing. The scale of these operations lead many experts to believe that organised crime is involved.
US involvement in ReCAAP began in 2012 with president Barack Obama initiating the process of American membership. Other members of ReCAAP include China, Japan, India, Singapore and the United Kingdom.
While they are also fighting piracy on the Strait, Malaysia and Indonesia are ironically not ReCAAP members, despite their immediate proximity to the area where piracy is increasing. Indonesia has cited sovereignty issues in its refusal to sign on to ReCAAP.
See Also:
Royal Navy beats back pirate attack in South China Sea
Black Flag: maritime experts warn of rising piracy in Southeast Asia
