Beijing’s increasingly aggressive behaviour in the South China Sea has driven many Southeast Asian nations to expand their coastguard capabilities as a way to maintain a presence in the region without risking military engagement, an Australian think tank said.
To stop maritime encounters, with China or each other, escalating into military conflicts, countries with claims to the disputed waterway have been transferring security forces from their navies to their coastguards, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute said in a report published on Wednesday.
“The coastguards have become important strategic cushions between navies in Asean,” it said, using the acronym for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
But now, as tensions rise in this new quasi-cold w4r period, the Coast Guard is edging closer to a continuing wartime relationship with the Navy. Most recently, its ships were attached to the 7th Fleet in the East China Sea to combat the ship-to-ship transfers with North Korea of coal and other goods prohibited under United Nations and U.S. sanctions.
