US steps up its activities in the Pacific to counter China’s growing influence: Coast Guard chief

Admiral Karl Schultz says there are ‘clear indicators’ of Beijing’s increased presence in the Pacific, even in US territories there

The Coast Guard plans to offer themselves as a ‘partner of choice’ to nations in the region, while helping them protect their sovereign interests

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Admiral Karl Schultz says the US Coast Guard plans to partner with Australia, New Zealand and Japan to “offer an international face that is an alternative to other actors in the region”. Photo: AFP

Published: 5:32pm, 23 Jul 2019Updated: 10:33pm, 23 Jul 2019

The United States Coast Guard will intensify its activities in the Pacific in response to China’s growing influence across the region, according to the force’s commandant Admiral Karl Schultz, who said there were “clear indicators” of Beijing’s increased presence even in the US’ Pacific territories.

Schultz on Tuesday said China had beefed up its maritime presence beyond the “strategic second island chain” – part of which is formed by US-administered Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI).

He said Beijing had also ramped up investments and engagement in those US Pacific territories as well as the Pacific island nations, which are in the region between the Indian and Pacific oceans that the US calls the “Indo Pacific”.

“We don’t have to look far to see places around the world where economic investment has contributed to things like ownership of ports,” Schultz warned in a call with media from Saipan, the largest island in the CNMI. “Our intention is to offer ourselves as the partner of choice to Pacific island nations, with the capability to help them protect their sovereign interests.”

Beijing says its defence strategy hinges on the ability to freely navigate its navy, including submarines, among the multiple island chains surrounding China’s coast. The first chain includes Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines, while the second includes the CNMI as well as Palau and Micronesia.

In recent months, the US Coast Guard – tasked with protecting America’s maritime interests – has played a bigger role in the western Pacific and the South China Sea as part of a drive to curb Beijing’s maritime expansion.

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