China’s Coast Guard is living up to its “second ship” reputation with new ships

One detail stood out above all: the painting. Chinese navy ships are grey, and this apparent type 052D came in white – the mark of a coast guard vessel.

The discovery led to speculation, which has since been supported by local reports, that China’s coast guard, a law enforcement agency, was acquiring a vessel modeled after a 6,500-ton naval destroyer.

The ship is just one of several large-scale purchases believed to be earmarked for the navy, which is now at a stage where its capabilities are likely to have serious implications if Beijing goes to war with another naval power.

The police force, moved in 2018 to come under military command, is undergoing one of the world’s most aggressive expansions at a time when China’s coast guard is increasingly at the center of tensions with its neighbors.

The size and strength of its fleet, estimated at 250 ships of at least 500 tons each, has led Western experts to often refer to it as the “Second Fleet”.

And he continued to break ground with bigger and bolder ships. Earlier this month, a state shipbuilding institute announced it was preparing an unspecified “mother ship” for the high seas, leading to rumors that the Coast Guard is set to receive a maritime drone carrier.

In July, China docked one of its two “Monster” ships — the world’s largest coast guard vessels displacing 12,000 tons each — in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone. It was an incredible show of strength, which Manila accused of being an intimidation tactic.

Experts believe Beijing’s ambitions for the agency are global. China has made no secret of its intention to expand its maritime power for long-range operations, establishing a “far-sea protection” doctrine in 2015.

Its Coast Guard appears poised to play a significant role, John Michael Dahm, a former U.S. Navy intelligence officer and senior fellow at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, told Business Insider.

“The fact that the Chinese coast guard would use these new and larger ships and capabilities to establish a security presence further from China has perhaps the greatest security implications for the US and its allies,” Dahm said. “Not just in Asia, but around the world.”

Why a destroyer?

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

Beijing has for decades bolstered its coast guard with dozens of former People’s Liberation Army Navy ships, including corvettes that have been decommissioned and modified to remove heavy armaments.

But its rivals have recently begun working more closely as tensions rise over regional disputes, most of which China has been accused of instigating.

Manila is beefing up its coast guard with five Japanese-made vessels worth a total of $400 million, while Tokyo is planning a mammoth 30,000-ton vessel for its respectable 150-ship police fleet.

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

Western experts believe the destroyer-style ship being assembled in Shanghai is part of China’s drive to stay ahead.

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

From China’s perspective, a destroyer-sized ship would fill a gap in its fleet, said Collin Koh, a senior fellow at the Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

The Coast Guard’s regular fleet tops out at 4,000 tons, before a dramatic jump to its 12,000-ton “Monster” ships.

Koh said China’s “Monster” ship may have looked down on the Philippines in the South China Sea, but it was impossible to keep such ships so far away for long periods.

“It is expensive to operate and deploy this type of ship because it is too big and not fit for purpose,” Koh said. “It’s meant more as a command ship and a disaster relief platform than to go out there and show force.”

A ship modeled after the Type-052D destroyer at 6,500 tons could meet this power design goal, especially if produced in larger numbers, Koh added.

Questions also remain about what kind of ship China is planning for the coast guard’s “mother ship.” Local experts have guessed that it may be an aircraft carrier or even an aircraft carrier, although the latter is unlikely.

The build-up seems a world away from what has traditionally been understood as the role of the coast guard: to police fishermen and deter smugglers.

Japan’s coast guard already has five 6,500-ton patrol vessels, and if China expands its own agency with vessels of that class, the region will be filled with warship-sized boats vying for dominance.

By comparison, the US Coast Guard’s largest cutters are about the size of frigates, at about 4,500 tons.

“Whatever China’s coast guard is doing could be considered unprecedented at this point,” said Dahm of the Mitchell Institute.

A Coast Guard that can go to war

One of the most significant developments of a burgeoning Chinese coast guard is that its ships could make a difference in a war.

The US Navy far outnumbers Beijing’s in gross tonnage and firepower, but loses in the numbers game, with about 300 ships to China’s 370. Add in a sizable coast guard force, and China will far outnumber Washington.

“They use fairly common core hulls as existing PLAN ships,” Koh said. “And that gives us the impression that they’re maintaining some level of platform commonality.”

This is important because a common platform leaves open the possibility of adding naval weapons to coast guard vessels.

“A Coast Guard Type-052D might not have a vertical launch system on board, but it still has enough deck space to mount weapons,” Koh said.

Navy corvettes acquired by the Coast Guard, for example, could be retrofitted with their old weapons.

“If they can remove some systems, it means they can be reinstalled in times of conflict,” Koh said.

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

“It’s pretty bizarre to me. I don’t know why a coast guard would ever need landing capabilities,” he said.

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

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

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

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

Ambitions for a global police force

A key element in China’s announcement for the “mother ship” of its coast guard was the phrase “distant seas.”

Little has been revealed about the new ship, but the Chinese builders said it is designed to provide “comprehensive support” in long-range missions.

This is an indication that China may be planning to send its coast guard on missions well beyond the East and South China Seas, Dahm said.

“For example, in the not-too-distant future, will the Chinese coast guard patrol the coast of West Africa to secure Chinese offshore oil projects?” Dahm said. “How about the GCC providing police services to small island nations in the South Pacific?”

The US Coast Guard has deployed more frequently to remote regions such as Africa, providing training to host countries and security for their waters. Dahm said China could try to do the same to increase its own influence.

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

“It’s not a gray navy hull, it’s a white hull. White-hulled ships are nice people, aren’t they?” he said. “They’re just using water cannons. They’re just hitting other boats. If they behave in the South Pacific the way they behave in the South China Sea, I foresee a lot of problems.”