Depending on China to Defend the Sealanes

The cat is in the hen house. Story from Radio Australia (and thanks to Galrahn):

There's been a call for China and other Asian nations that
fish off the coast of Somalia to take part in a proposed United Nations-backed
force to combat maritime piracy.Spain's prime minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez
Zapatero, says the area off the African coast has become especially
dangerous.

I warned earlier that the new Maritime Strategy and our obsession with the Big Ship navy was conceding the littorals to the pirates. Meanwhile, while the US continues funding an all-battleship navy, we are looking to nations who still build small ships to fight a war we should be handling with ease, against Al Qaeda insurgents on the high seas. For the folly of calling on China to help us with what should the West's responsibility, consider the Anglo/Japanese Alliance of 1902 and how that worked out.