How does converting a Chinese navy ship into a coastguard vessel aid Beijing’s maritime mission?
- Maritime journal lists pros and cons of converting naval corvette for coastguard after image shows Type 056 ship modified in Hudong-Zhonghua shipyard
- The development ‘can be seen as an explicit message that China will not sit idle and let other countries meddle in its maritime issues’, article says
Converting naval corvettes into China Coast Guard ships could boost the power of the enforcement agency and tackle sensitive maritime issues in a more flexible way, according to a Chinese journal.
“China’s maritime law enforcement environment has become increasingly serious as foreign countries led by the United States complicated issues regarding the Diaoyu Islands and sensitive South China Sea islands,” said an article published this month in the latest edition of the Chinese magazine Naval and Merchant Ships.
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China’s first Type 056 entered service in February 2013 to replace outdated vessels such as the Type 053 frigate. In December 2019, China ceased building such ships and focused on procuring bigger warships for high-seas missions. China has 22 Type 056 and 50 Type 056A corvettes.
“The goal of the Chinese navy is to go to deep oceans and better safeguard China’s overseas interests. At present, a large number of non-military tasks near the coast can be handled by the coastguard,” the Naval and Merchant Ships article said.
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It said Type 056 could better handle a collision between vessels, a frequent occurrence in maritime conflicts, when compared to civilian ships, and could conduct electronic jamming.
“The Type 056 joining China’s coastguard forces can be seen as an explicit message that China will not sit idle and let other countries meddle in its maritime issues.”
However, the article also pointed out that the Type 056 had limitations – including not being able to sail for a long period and not having sufficient non-lethal weapons – restricting its potential.
Song Zhongping, a former PLA instructor and Hong Kong-based affairs commentator, said the decision to convert the corvettes might have been triggered, in part, by the diminishing importance of the Type 056 to the Chinese navy.
“As the number of large surface ships increased over the years, the value of Type 056, which mainly conducts near-shore missions, is no longer that useful for China,” Song said, “so transferring them to become coastguard ships can make them more useful.”
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The magazine article was published after a picture showing a Type 056 ship, with hull number 511 and previously named Baoding, modified into a coastguard vessel at the Hudong-Zhonghua shipyard in Shanghai.
The corvette’s missile and torpedo launchers had been removed, but its 76mm main gun and 30mm autocannons were still in place, in an apparent attempt to retain its deterrence abilities, according to a Chinese media report.
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LED panels were added to both sides of the vessel’s superstructure, allowing it to display messages and warnings, according to the report.
It is not the first time China has converted vessels into coastguard ships. In March 2007, the Chinese transferred two Type 728 cutters – the Changde and Shaoxing – to the coastguard and renumbered them 1002 and 1003.
