China’s Coast Guard: The Rising Storm on the High Seas
China’s Coast Guard: A Dangerous, Conflict-Triggering Force
Over the past decade, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Coast Guard has been expanding, becoming increasingly militarized, and bullying its maritime neighbors, raising concerns about armed conflict and undermining peace in the Asia-Pacific.
CCP Coast Guard: A Navy with Different Paintings
The scope of CCP Coast Guard activities is broadening, with over 140 ocean patrol vessels with a displacement of more than 900 tons, surpassing the combined number of US Coast Guard, Japanese Coast Guard, and Philippine Coast Guard vessels.
Unlike most countries’ coast guards, which are led by administrative agencies, the CCP Coast Guard has become increasingly militarized, with the 2018 transfer from an agency under the State Oceanic Administration to an armed police force under the command of the CCP Military Commission.
The Coast Guard Law issued by the CCP in 2021 states that the CCP Coast Guard can conduct military operations, and Chinese coast guard vessels have steel hulls and armament, with newer vessels indistinguishable from naval vessels.
More and more countries consider the Chinese Coast Guard as a navy with a different paint job, rather than a coast guard.
Ye Yunhu, secretary general of the China Coast Guard Association and professor of the Maritime Police Department of the Central Police University, stated that the CCP Coast Guard has become like a wild horse galloping forward, getting bigger and bigger.
Challenging International Law
The CCP Coast Guard Law allows the coast guard to carry out law enforcement operations in “sea areas under China’s jurisdiction” (but does not define which sea areas), which can establish temporary maritime warning zones, restricting or prohibiting the passage of ships and people.
The Chinese Communist Party has implemented the “Administrative Law Enforcement Procedure Regulations for Coast Guard Agencies” since June 15 this year, which states that new measures such as boarding, inspection, and seizure can be implemented against foreign ships and personnel.
A spokesperson for the US State Department responded that China’s domestic laws do not apply to the exclusive economic zones of other countries or ships flying the flags of other countries on the high seas according to the 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea.
We Need to Draw a Red Line for the CCP
The pressure that the Chinese Coast Guard exerts on neighboring countries has not brought any concrete benefits to Beijing in securing its maritime claims, but instead has generated opposition to China.
Ye Yunhu stated that if we want to curb the behavior of the CCP, all countries must come to a consensus and draw a red line on what is completely unacceptable.