China’s fishing fleet a militia force - Institute for Maritime and Ocean Affairs

The naval and Coast Guard vessels of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) have consistently drawn attention in the heavily disputed South China Sea, especially with the completion of military bases on artificial islands that China has built on Philippine-claimed reefs in the Spratly archipelago.

What has not often drawn attention is the presence in the region of China’s maritime militia.

While the vessels look like fishing boats, they should not be taken lightly, said Gregory Poling, director of Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative and a fellow at Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

Force for intimidation

They intimidate the vessels of other claimants in the South China Sea, including the Philippines, Poling said.

“What Beijing has done in the past several years is to establish 24/7 constant presence of naval and Coast Guard vessels, as well as paramilitary militia throughout the South China Sea in a way that was unprecedented just four or five years ago,” Poling told a security forum in Makati City, on Friday.

Despite losing to a Philippine challenge in the UN-backed Permanent Court of Arbitration in July 2016, China insists it owns almost all of the South China Sea, including waters close to the shores of the other claimants in the strategic waterway.

Besides the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and Taiwan also claim parts of the South China Sea.

To reinforce its sweeping claim, China has built artificial islands on seven Philippine-claimed reefs in the Spratly archipelago and developed on these military bases equipped with antiship missiles and surface-to-air missiles.