How China’s coast guard is ‘trying to occupy the ocean’
In most countries, coast guards are there to do just that: guard domestic coasts and territorial waters. China’s, however, is increasingly using police powers to project Beijing’s control over disputed waters.
On July 24, China Coast Guard 5202 sailed loops around Thitu, an island in the Spratlys held by the Philippines, while at least four other vessels loitered around reefs close to the Philippine coast.
Meanwhile, 700 kilometres south, a Chinese coast guard ship was conducting a weeks-long patrol at Luconia Shoals off the Malaysian coast, and 1500 kilometres north, yet another sailed around the Senkaku Islands, capping a record 215-day presence in Japan’s territorial sea.
