China’s coast guard is looking even more like its ‘2nd navy,’ with ‘Monster’ ships, a destroyer-level vessel, and a rumored drone carrier

Experts think Beijing’s ambitions for the agency are global. China has made it no secret that it intends to expand its maritime strength for distant operations, establishing a “far-seas protection” doctrine in 2015.

Its coast guard looks poised to play a significant role, John Michael Dahm, a former US Navy intelligence officer and a senior fellow at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, told Business Insider.

“That the Chinese coast guard would use these new, larger ships and capabilities to establish a security presence farther from China probably has the largest security implications for the US and its allies,” Dahm said. “Not just in Asia, but around the world.”

Why a destroyer?

China’s coast guard expansion isn’t happening in isolation. It’s locked in a pseudo-arms race with its neighbors in the resource-rich East and South China Seas, chiefly Japan and the Philippines. Both are US allies.

Beijing has, for decades, already been beefing up its coast guard with dozens of former People’s Liberation Army Navy ships, including corvettes that were decommissioned and modified to remove heavy weaponry.

But its rivals have recently started working more closely as tensions mount over regional disputes, most of which China has been accused of initiating.

Manila is upgrading its coast guard with five Japan-made ships worth a total of $400 million, while Tokyo is planning a giant 30,000-ton vessel for its respectable 150-ship policing fleet.

“Size does matter,” Dahm said. “A vessel’s size and displacement often translate directly into capabilities. A bigger ship means more people, more weapons, more fuel, more endurance, more range.”

Western experts think the destroyer-esque ship being assembled in Shanghai is part of China’s effort to stay ahead.

“China is upping the ante again by bringing in the most kind of modern, advanced form of a coast guard ship,” said Vina Nadjibulla, vice president of research and strategy at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada. “We should see it more as a naval ship than a coast guard ship.”

Benjamin Blandin, a researcher and network coordinator at the Yokosuka Council on Asia-Pacific Studies, told BI that he’s noticed the Chinese coast guard also recently acquired landing craft.

“That’s quite bizarre to me. I don’t know why a coast guard would ever need landing capacities,” he said.

Legally, little stands in the way of China using its coast guard in open conflict. The agency falls under the People’s Armed Police, which reports to central military leadership.

Coast guard laws were also changed in 2021 to allow the use of force when China’s “sovereign rights and jurisdiction are infringed upon.”

“Clearly, they are being treated by the Chinese authorities as a navy reserve or a navy auxiliary,” Blandin said.

China’s foreign ministry press center did not respond to a request for comment sent by BI.

Ambitions for a global policing force

A key element in China’s announcement for its coast guard “mothership” was the phrase “far seas.”

Almost nothing has been revealed about the new ship, but Chinese shipbuilders said it’s designed to provide “comprehensive support” on long-range missions.

That’s a clue that China might intend to send its coast guard on missions far beyond the East and South China Seas, Dahm said.

“For example, in the not-too-distant future, will the Chinese coast guard be patrolling the coast of West Africa to secure Chinese off-shore oil projects?” Dahm said. “What about the CCG offering police services to small island nations in the South Pacific?”

The US Coast Guard has been deploying more frequently to distant regions like Africa, providing training for host countries and security for their waters. Dahm said China could seek to do the same to boost its own influence.

Blandin of YCAPS said sailing under the coast guard also gives China’s ships a softer touch in international relations, even if they might be formidable vessels.

“It’s not a gray navy hull, it’s a white hull. White-hull ships are nice people, right?” he said. “It’s just that they use water cannons. It’s just that they ram other boats. If they behave in the South Pacific like they behave in the South China Sea, I predict a lot of trouble.”