Taiwan is planning to send naval vessels to waters off Somalia for the first time to protect the island's fishing boats against pirates, media reported Thursday.
A task force -- consisting of at least one warship and a logistical support vessel as well as a squad of special forces -- may depart as early as Saturday, the United Evening News paper said.
The mission, which will take around two months, will represent serious logistical challenges, since Taiwan has no diplomatic allies in the area, according to the paper.
This is pure diplomacy, since the mission really doesn't help with Taiwan's primary missions of defending the Taiwan Strait and piercing any attempted blockade.
But the need for anti-piracy forces is greater than the supply, so Taiwan will gain some recognition for doing its best to defend the commons, just as the much larger China has done recently.
