US Coast Guard Patrol spots Chinese naval ships near Alaska
Chinese navy warship
Chinese Navy ships were spotted inside the US economic zone by a cutter on a routine patrol late last week, the US Coast Guard said on Wednesday (Jul10).
The crew saw three Chinese vessels approximately 124 miles (200 kilometres) north of the Amchitka Pass in the Aleutian Islands, the Coast Guard said in a statement.
Later, a helicopter from Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak spotted a fourth ship.
The Chinese ships were in international waters but within the US Exclusive Economic Zone.
“The Chinese naval presence operated in accordance with international rules and norms," said Rear Adm. Megan Dean, commander of the Seventeenth Coast Guard District.
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"We ensured that there were no disruptions to US interests in the maritime environment around Alaska," added the admiral.
The Chinese ships informed the Coast Guard their mission was freedom of navigation operations.
The Kimball observed the ships until they moved south into the North Pacific Ocean. The Coast Guard reported that its cutters spotted Chinese military ships in the Bering Sea in both 2021 and 2022.
Notably, the sighting of the ships occurred just a week after the Chinese Navy began its annual joint patrol with the Russian Navy in the Pacific Ocean, the US Naval Institute reported on July 5.
According to a retired senior Coast Guard officer, Aaron Davenport said thatwhen Chinese vessels claimthat they’re conducting ‘freedom of navigation operations,’ it’s basically China flexing its muscles.
He further stated that this situation is somewhat similar to how the US has deployed the Coast Guard and other ships to the Taiwan Strait to support freedom of navigation and bolster American allies in the region.
However, he emphasised the key difference that the Aleutian Islands are unequivocally part of the US. The Taiwan Strait, on the other hand, separates the island democracy of Taiwan from China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory.
It is worth mentioning that the US military regularly conducts what it calls freedom of navigation operations in disputed waters in Asia that China claims as its own.
As per the US, 'Freedom of navigation' in the waters is in America’s national interest.
(With inputs from agencies)