Seeking to dominate the strategic waterways of Asia, China has deployed an armada of boats that are equipped with 76 mm cannons, have the capacity to add anti-ship missiles, and are bigger than U.S. Navy destroyers. But they are not Chinese navy vessels. Their hulls are painted white, with "China Coast Guard” in block letters on the sides.
In just a decade, China has amassed the world’s largest coast guard fleet, and it is like no other. More militarized, more aggressive in international disputes and less concerned with the usual missions of policing smugglers or search and rescue, the Chinese force has upended 200 years of global coast guard tradition.
It has also set off an arms race. Powering into a gray zone between law enforcement and naval power, Beijing has targeted rivals with ships that can easily sink the vessels most coast guards have used for decades. And in response, other countries that fear Chinese encroachment are rushing to deploy bigger, more heavily armed patrol boats of their own.