US to base Coast Guard in western Pacific to tackle China’s ‘harassment of vessels'

On October 23, US National Security Advisor, Robert C O’Brien said in an official statement issued by the White House that the United States was strategically homeporting the enhanced Quick Response Cutters in the Pacific. Describing the US as ‘Pacific energy’, O’Brien said that US was expanding the presence of the United States Coast Guard (USCG) in the maritime region of the western Pacific Ocean to combat China Communist Party (CCP’s) “unlawful, unreported, and unregulated fishing, and harassment of vessels” sailing in the financial zones of various nations of Indo-Pacific. 

Reprimanding China’s belligerence and expansionist agenda in the Pacific territorial waters, the US Security Adviser said that the US vessels will be deployed in American Samoa to malign CCP’s actions threatening the sovereignty of its Pacific neighbours, and endangering regional stability. “Efforts of the United States Government, including the United States Coast Guard (USCG), are critical to countering these destabilizing China’s actions,” the US Security Adviser said. 

Asserting that the USCG’s enhanced capabilities were key in protecting the US’ vital national interests in the Pacific, O’Brien said, a new generation of Fast Response Cutters built in a proven Louisiana-based shipyard will conduct maritime security missions fisheries patrols, enhance maritime domain awareness. He added the US coast guard vessels will lead enforcement efforts in collaboration with regional partners that have limited offshore surveillance and enforcement capacity. USCG’s exercises will ensure “freedom of navigation,” he stressed. 

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China ‘a catalog of belligerence'

Accusing China of numerous violations of international law, the US security advisor said that the CCP has consistently deployed warships as escorts for Chinese fishing vessels. Earlier in July, US defense secretary Mark T. Esper accused China of pushing the regional security and stability under duress by hampering stability in the Indo-Pacific region. “United States recognizes the dangers and is reaching out to nations around the globe to counter China's moves,” ester said at Daniel K. Inouye Asia Pacific Center press address. He said China had constantly attempted to “undermine and subvert the rules-based order to advance their own interests – often at the expense of others.” Esper’s statement came in reference to reports of a Chinese coast guard vessel that rammed and sunk a Vietnamese fishing boat near the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea. 

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(Image Credit: US Coast Guard/ AP)