A helicopter escorts Chinese ships through Somali waters on January 12, 2009.

The Chinese navy yesterday escorted a Taiwan ship through Somali waters to protect it against pirate attacks.

This is the first time that the navy has escorted a ship from the island in waters off Somalia.

Two navy destroyers and a large supply ship have been patrolling the Somali waters for the past week, and offered to escort ships from the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan on request.

On its second escort duty, the navy guided four merchant vessels, the Zhenhua 13 and Zhenhua 14 from Shanghai, Yushan from Taiwan and the China-registered Filipino ship, Saga Horizon, the mission's headquarters said.

The navy began its 553-nautical-mile mission yesterday in the east estuary of Bab-el-Mandeb (or Mandeb Strait) around 11 am. Bab-el-Mandeb, which literally means, the "Gate of Tears", is where the Red Sea meets the Arabian Sea, and despite being very difficult to navigate, it is among the busiest shipping channels in the world.

Two special-force groups boarded the two Shanghai ships, one of which led the fleet and the other made up the rear, with the destroyer Wuhan sailing alongside.

The other destroyer, the Haikou, was to join the fleet when it entered "complicated waters", the headquarters said.