Word: straits
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...held three rounds of unprecedented talks - the first in 60 years - to agree on milestones like establishing direct flights between Taiwan and China and opening Taiwan tourism to Chinese citizens. Last weekend, they agreed to enable each other's banks to set up branches on either side of the Strait, and more than double the number of weekly direct flights that started last year. Before Ma's time, passengers traveling from Taipei to Shanghai had to go through a third city like Hong Kong, which made an 80-minute trip a 7-hour long haul. "The increase of mutual trust...
...piracy problem became so severe that it was threatening local economies - especially Malaysia and Singapore, which rely heavily on trade for economic growth. Fears were also raised in regional capitals that outside powers - whose own trade was being affected in the seizures - would intervene in the strait if the local governments didn't solve the problem themselves. A new spirit of cooperation took hold along the strait. "All of us shared the same goal and objective," says Zahari Jamian, a captain in the Royal Malaysian Navy, "to paint the picture to the world that the strait is not really...
...three-decade battle between a local Islamic separatist group and the Indonesian military, isolating Aceh and annihilating economic opportunities. Desperate Acehnese took to piracy as the only way to earn a living, while arms-smuggling operations spawned by the conflict added an organized, criminal element to the strait. But in 2005, the two parties finally signed a peace accord and normalcy returned to Aceh, opening up less-risky job options on land. "The impetus for piracy began to change," says Alex Duperouzel, managing director of Background Asia Risk Solutions, which provides security for vessels. "You have to solve the problem...
...results were a series of measures taken collectively, mainly by Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, with some cooperation from Thailand, that significantly improved security in the strait. Beginning in 2004, the local armed forces organized coordinated sea patrols. Each side polices its own territorial waters, but they communicate with one another on potential pirate activity, greatly enhancing the effectiveness of the patrols. In 2005, they added regular sorties of airplanes to scout the strait for pirates. The flights are undertaken by crews with nationals from the different countries so they can better share information. Intelligence gathered on pirates is also disseminated...
...case of Malacca gives at least a glimmer of hope that the piracy problem in Africa can also be tackled. The success in the strait clearly shows how committed and carefully orchestrated naval action can combat pirates. But analysts warn that the lessons of Malacca also tell us how much more difficult fighting the Somali pirates will be, because of the very different conditions on shore in Africa. The countries along the strait possess the resources and organized governments necessary to stand up to piracy. Those crucial elements are lacking in destitute and disorderly Somalia, where most of the pirates...