In order to counter the expansion of the Chinese Communist Party, the U.S. Coast Guard has begun to build up its forces in the western Pacific Ocean. Pictured is a Coast Guard speedboat.
The Communist Party of China (CPC) has used the coordinated operations of the Chinese fishing fleet, Coast Guard and Navy to establish a foothold in the South China Sea; CPC warships and fishing vessels are also increasingly present in the Western and Central Pacific, and the CPC Navy is establishing a foothold in these waters. To counter Communist expansion, the U.S. Coast Guard has begun to build up its forces in the Western Pacific.
The Wall Street Journal reported on March 15 that in early December 2020, a U.S. Coast Guard speedboat sailed through the night and anchored in the Pacific island nation of Palau, where U.S. crews boarded a group of Chinese vessels and confiscated tens of thousands of dollars worth of illegally caught sea cucumbers.
The rapid response speedboat, located about 6,600 miles from the continental United States and 750 miles from the U.S. port of Guam, is part of the Coast Guard’s latest extended deployment: to help counter the growing naval power of the Chinese Communist Party in the Pacific.
Chinese Communist Party Expands Illegal Fishing in Indo-Pacific Waters, Harassing Neighbors
Chinese fishing fleets are already operating off islands such as the Republic of Kiribati and Tuvalu, which have some of the world’s richest tuna fisheries and where the Chinese Communist Navy has established a foothold.
The Communist Party also uses its coast guard, the largest in the world, to accompany Chinese fishing fleets and other nuisance vessels engaged in oil exploration and other commercial activities in the disputed waters of the South China Sea.
On January 14, then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced visa sanctions against executives of Communist Party state-owned enterprises, Communist Party officials, Communist Party naval officers and other Chinese involved in Communist Party military aggression in the South China Sea. Pompeo said Beijing continues to send fishing fleets and energy survey vessels, escorted by military personnel, to operate in waters claimed as protected by Southeast Asian countries and to harass oil and gas development in those countries.
In response, the U.S. Coast Guard is deploying troops in the region. In the past few months, the Coast Guard has deployed two of its most advanced new speedboats to the U.S. island of Guam, 4,000 miles closer to Shanghai than it is to San Francisco. An additional speedboat will be deployed in the coming months. In addition, for the first Time, the Coast Guard has a U.S. embassy attaché in Canberra, Australia, and another attaché will move to Singapore next year.
The Coast Guard has been steadily increasing its activities in the Western Pacific and off the coast of China. It is deploying patrol ships to the Western Pacific for more than a dozen months in 2019, working with the U.S. Navy’s Seventh Fleet. One such ship is the cruiser USS Bertholf (USCGC Bertholf), which also crossed the Taiwan Strait to deter the Chinese Communist Party, the first U.S. Coast Guard vessel to release a political signal.
Coast Guard openly plays role in confronting Chinese Communist Party
Lyle Morris, a senior policy analyst at Rand Corp. said, citing a 2018 Pentagon document, “The biggest shift is that the Coast Guard is more publicly signaling its role in competing with the Chinese [Communist Party] as a power.”
The U.S. Coast Guard is part of the Department of Homeland Security, and its mission has historically focused on protecting U.S. maritime borders, but it has also at times served to support the Navy. Coast Guard cooperation with the Pentagon has been increasing in recent years. U.S. government data show Coast Guard vessels provided 326 days of support to the Department of Defense in 2019, compared to an average of 50 to 100 days over the past five years.All 2019 deployments were in the Indo-Pacific region.
The Pentagon has made clear its focus will be more on the Indo-Pacific region. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin began his first overseas trip this week to the Indo-Pacific region to meet with Japanese and Indian officials.
The United States and allies with a strong naval presence in the Pacific, such as Australia and France, are concerned that the Chinese Communist Party has established a military foothold in the South China Sea and is looking further afield to find fishing grounds and expand its strategic location. A U.S. Coast Guard deployment could counter the Chinese Communist Party and reduce the risk of military incidents involving U.S. Navy ships.
It makes sense to send the Coast Guard to the region to train our partners,” said Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mich.), a member of the House Armed Services Committee. They can do all of that without having to worry about the Navy complicating things by doing the same job.”
What role the Coast Guard plays in the Western Pacific
Much of the work of U.S. Coast Guard ships is enforcement against the Chinese fishing fleet, and when Chinese fishing vessels illegally fishing for sea cucumbers are detained, the U.S. Coast Guard gets involved in helping local authorities with boarding and paperwork inspections.
While many small Pacific islands have a growing ability to protect their own waters, the new Coast Guard vessels enhance the U.S. ability to provide security and stability, said Col. Christopher Chase, commander of the Guam District Coast Guard.
The Coast Guard is investing more than $19 billion in deploying at least eight speedboats, 25 maritime patrol officers and 58 rapid response personnel to the Western Pacific. If all goes according to plan this year, at least eight speedboats will be deployed in response to the Chinese Communist Party. The Coast Guard is also looking at stationing a boat for deployment in American Samoa.
The new Coast Guard speedboats are the heart of the entire fleet, able to travel farther and faster in adverse conditions. They are equipped with naval gunnery systems and heavy machine guns, and have decks that allow helicopters to land.
Vice Adm. Linda Fagan, commander of the U.S. Pacific Coast Guard, said the Indian Pacific Command and countries in the region would like to see more conventional Coast Guard deployments in the South China Sea.
Fagan said in an interview, “While (Coast Guard ships) are a little bit smaller than U.S. Navy (ships), they’re definitely much more flexible, and our partners are commenting positively on that.”
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