The U.S. has decided to gamble on sending lightly armed coast guard vessels to the South China Sea to counter China’s increasingly aggressive “illegal and unregulated” fishing and harassment of foreign fishing vessels. (Read story here.)
In July 2020, Defense Secretary Mark Esper accused China of a “catalog of bad behavior” in the region. A high percentage of the incidents have involved Chinese warships, coast guard vessels, and/or armed fishing vessels. After several years of debate, the U.S. has decided to implement a controversial plan to involve its Coast Guard in deterrence operations.
The idea behind using the Coast Guard, instead of U.S. Navy warships, is to reduce the risk of a military confrontation that could lead to war. But the action clearly is an escalation, and some analysts believe it may increase the risk of armed conflict, and have argued against it (see article here).
The Sentinel class vessels, the newest in the U.S.C.G.’s fleet, will be permanently stationed in the area, and conduct maritime security operations “in collaboration with regional partners who have limited offshore surveillance and enforcement capacity,” National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien announced on Friday, October 24, 2020.
China has been militarizing and arming a portion of its large fishing fleet, and is overtly trying to drive other countries out of the South China Sea, which it claims as its territory — a claim rejected by the rest of the world.
Below: Schematic of Sentinel-class cutter
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