The U.S. Coast Guard has been “advising and assisting” Manila in its missions to resupply the Philippine garrison at Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea but has not been asked to provide escorts amid efforts “not to overly escalate the situation,” the agency’s Pacific area commander said Friday.
“We assist (the Philippine Coast Guard) with coming up with some of their plans, but we do not accompany them,” said Vice Adm. Andrew Tiongson during a visit to Tokyo, noting that support has so far been limited to “tactics, techniques and procedures to help in those types of situations.” From collisions at sea near key military outposts to the use of flares and water cannons, tensions between Manila and Beijing have surged over disputes in the strategically and economically important South China Sea, where the two nations have overlapping maritime and territorial claims.
Tiongson said that while the China Coast Guard (CCG) has been “ratcheting up” its activities, the situation has yet to go beyond a certain level, allowing the Philippine authorities to “adjust as necessary,” ensuring successful resupply missions to the garrison – such as the one conducted Thursday – and preventing the situation from spiraling out of control.
At the same time, the vice admiral noted that the U.S. Coast Guard plans to increase in size and expand its regional footprint by ramping up activities with partner countries amid efforts to find “regional responses” to challenges.
“We're not necessarily looking for bases. We're looking for places where we can (routinely) conduct forward operations; places that provide us a hub for logistics and things like that,” he said, pointing out that this was one of the things he was looking for in Japan and potentially also in Australia.
The agency already has a large footprint in the region, particularly in the Pacific Ocean, not just because of Hawaii and the U.S. territory of Guam, but also due to law enforcement pacts the agency has signed with several Pacific island nations under its Shiprider program, which allows it to obtain a country’s consent to board and search vessels suspected of illicit activities in that country’s exclusive economic zone.
Tiongson’s remarks come at a time when a growing number of Indo-Pacific coast guards are becoming increasingly involved in the patrolling of disputed waters, a role traditionally assigned to navies.
Experts say the growing use of “gray-zone” tactics by some state actors make coast guards an important tool for nations to protect their maritime resources without having to deploy the armed forces.
As a result, coast guards have been playing a key role in the intensifying territorial and maritime disputes in the East and South China Seas, as their vessels are also often used to either defend or promote territorial claims.
For instance, the CCG, which is the world's largest, has evolved into a powerful tool for Beijing in this regard, with its vessels setting new records every year for their continuous presence in the contiguous zone of the Japanese-administered, Chinese-claimed Senkaku Islands, prompting Tokyo to boost its coast guard capabilities.
While the CCG has also long operated near Taiwanese-controlled Kinmen Island, it made international headlines recently because of its actions against Philippine vessels around Sabina Shoal, a new flash point within the Philippine exclusive economic zone.
Noteworthy were the CCG’s efforts this year to prevent missions to resupply Philippine Coast Guard vessel BRP Teresa Magbanua, which had a continuous presence at the atoll from April to mid-September — a duration that prompted Chinese concerns about the vessel possibly being used to establish a long-term presence there.
Manila, which rejected Beijing’s allegations as “completely unfounded,” has since deployed a new coast guard ship to the area.
It's still unclear what role the coast guards of nonclaimant countries such as the United States will play in these disputes, which are as much about sovereignty and access to key maritime resources as about maintaining access to critical sea lanes.
Just last week, the leaders of the U.S., India, Japan and Australia pledged to launch joint coast guard patrols to monitor vessels fishing illegally in the Indo-Pacific.
The “Quad” countries plan a joint operation next year that will see Japanese, Australian and Indian coast guard members board a U.S. Coast Guard vessel in the region, with future missions expected to take place on a rotational basis across the Indo-Pacific.
Very few details have emerged about the future “Quad-at-Sea Ship Observer Missions,” including whether they will be held in disputed areas of the East and South China Seas and how they would deal with Beijing’s massive fishing fleets operating there.
Tiongson said the new initiative will mark the first time coast guard officials from all four countries would conduct such operations together, while hinting that the patrols could also take place in the West Philippine Sea.
“We will work very closely with those nations to ensure that we're operating in the correct place, the correct time, and ... exercise in the correct things.” The planned cooperation is widely seen as a push by Quad nations to check not only on illegal activities at sea but also on Beijing’s increasingly assertive efforts to promote territorial and maritime claims.
The Canadian Coast Guard, which monitors illegal fishing activities in the North Pacific, also appears keen on expanding cooperation with regional partners, with the agency set to make its first port call ever in Japan next week as the icebreaker CCGS Sir Wilfrid Laurier arrives in Yokohama.
Tiongson said there has been an "uptick" in Chinese and Russian naval activity in the northern Pacific and around Alaska but that encounters so far, including elsewhere with the CCG, have been “nothing but professional.”
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