China Coast Guard Claims its First Patrol to the Arctic Ocean

On Wednesday, China's military claimed that its coast guard had entered the Arctic Ocean for the first time, extending a patrol in the Bering Sea to a destination much farther north.

The PLA claimed that the vessels arrived on China's National Day, observed on October 1. The claim could not be immediately verified. 

On Saturday, four days prior, a U.S. Coast Guard Hercules aircrew spotted a joint patrol of two Russian Border Guard ships and two China Coast Guard cutters at a position about 400 nautical miles southwest of St. Lawrence, putting the flotilla in the center of the Bering Sea at a latitude of about 60 degrees north. The additional sailing distance to the Chukchi Sea would be about 500-600 nautical miles, roughly two days' sail in relatively calm forecast conditions.  

"The first entry of CCG vessels into the Arctic Ocean has significantly expanded the CCG's operational range in the ocean, tested the vessels' ability to carry out missions in unfamiliar maritime areas, bolstered its participation in international and regional maritime governance," the PLA's China Coast Guard said in a statement Wednesday.

The PLA said that the joint coast guard patrol conducted inspections on fishing vessels operating in the region, aiming "to maintain order in high-seas fisheries." They also  conducted joint exercises in search and rescue, damage control and "locating illegal vessels."

AIS data shows that the U.S. Coast Guard has dispatched the damaged icebreaker USCGC Healy, and she is broadcasting her current destination as "Artic science."

After an electrical transformer fire in late July, Healy suspended a science mission in the Arctic, and she pulled in to Seattle for unscheduled repairs in mid- August. At the time of her arrival in Puget Sound, the Coast Guard said that the timeline for restoring her to full capability was unknown.