Team News Riveting
China has passed a law that for the first time explicitly allowing its coastguards to fire on foreign vessels and demolish structures built in disputed waters.
The coastguard law, passed on Friday by China’s top legislative body, the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, came two years after China’s military assumed control of the previously civilian maritime body in 2018.
The law empowers the coastguard to use “all necessary means” to deter threats posed by foreign vessels in waters “under China’s jurisdiction”. It will also allow the coastguards to launch pre-emptive strikes without prior warning if commanders deem it necessary.
It is unclear whether the law will be applied to all waters claimed by Beijing, which has a number of competing claims with its neighbours in the East and South China Seas.
Under the new bill, coastguard personnel can demolish structures built or installed by other countries in Chinese-claimed waters and board and inspect foreign ships in the area.
The passing of the law is likely to heighten concern among China’s neighbours about the prospect of more aggressive operations. Chinese coastguard ships have played a leading role in asserting China’s maritime claims, including in fishing disputes off Indonesia’s Natuna Islands and the stand-off with Vietnam over Vanguard Bank.
In a document published last month, the US said it would integrate its coastguard into the naval forces countering China’s growing presence in the South China Sea.
Other claimants in the South China Sea are racing to empower their coastguard fleets. For example, Vietnam passed a law permitting its coastguard fleet to operate outside the country’s territorial waters.
Japanese diplomats have previously lodged a protest against the growing presence of Chinese coastguard vessels near the Diaoyu, or Senkaku, Islands in the East China Sea.
Foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Friday that the new law would clarify the functions and authority of the coastguard forces and that it was in line with international practice. Hua added that China will continue to manage its differences with Japan through dialogue.
