U.S. Coast Guard Keeps an Eye on Chinese Research Flotilla off Alaska

 

The U.S. Coast Guard is still keeping an eye on five Chinese research vessels that are operating in the Arctic, in and near U.S. waters off Alaska. 

Last Wednesday, Coast Guard Arctic District dispatched an HC-130J long range search aircraft to intercept and query the flotilla of Chinese government ships. The five Chinese vessels include the Polar Class 3 icebreaker Xue Long 2, seen previously on Arctic and Antarctic missions; the Soviet-built icebreaking tug Zhong Shan Da Xue Ji Di (flagged with the Liberian registry); the brand new ice-class research vessels Ji Di and Tan Suo San Hao, both delivered in the last year; and Shen Hai Yi Hao, a conventional research vessel built to carry a deep-diving submersible.  

Tan Suo San Hao (USCG)

Zhong Shan Da Xue Ji Di (USCG)

Shen Hai Yi Hao (USCG)

The Chinese research presence in Alaska's far north is unprecedented, and comes amidst heightened tensions between Washington and Beijing. At about the same time as the Chinese presence intensified off Alaska, two U.S. warships conducted a freedom of navigation operation near Scarborough Shoal, a contested, Chinese-occupied reef in the South China Sea. 

The Coast Guard has more resources in Alaska than it did a few months ago. Bollinger's 59th and latest Fast Response Cutter, USCGC Earl Cunningham, was commissioned last week and will be based out of Kodiak, freeing up larger vessel assets for long-distance patrols. The Coast Guard's new interim icebreaker, USCGC Storis (ex name Aiviq), is currently in Seward and is expected to head further north soon, in the direction of the Chinese research flotilla.