White-hulled coast guard vessels are getting longer and heavier, and their guns are also getting bigger. Read more at straitstimes.com.
MANILA – Seeking to dominate the strategic waterways of Asia, China has deployed an armada of boats that are equipped with 76mm cannons and anti-ship missiles, and are bigger than US Navy destroyers.
But with coast guard standoffs quietly escalating around the region, officials and analysts increasingly worry about a rising threat: an accident or violent skirmish anywhere in the vast area that China’s coast guard roams, which could ignite a broader conflict, even a war between major powers. Coast guards that once acted as watchful eyes and helping hands have become more like navies, drawn into Asia’s geopolitics and deployed as military muscle in waterways that are vital for shipping and natural resources.
And the region’s coast guards are working more closely with defence planners, putting them at the vanguard of broader contests in the Indo-Pacific over economic and military power. That phrase, setting out a national priority, appears in Chinese government documents as far back as 2000, with a definition that includes naval power, fishing prowess, environmental protection and the advancement of territorial claims.
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