America’s
allies in the Indo-Pacific are getting pretty familiar with China’s grey-zone
maritime behavior, but the United States itself is ill-prepared to deal with
it. Yet it should be prepared, experts warned a US House of
Representatives committee in a hearing this month. The US must not only counter the threat to its national security posed
by China’s coercive operations, but also support its allies against Chinese efforts
to rewrite the rule of law in the region.
The US
Coast Guard, America’s best tool for responding to China’s use of force below
the threshold of war, was underequipped for the task, maritime security experts
from the US Naval War College, the Heritage Foundation and the RAND Corporation
told the committee. The service needed more ships, more sailors and advanced
capabilities tailored to countering grey-zone operations at sea, they said. It
must also increase its engagement with Indo-Pacific allies to build up maritime
law enforcement cooperation in the region.
The coast guard’s chronic shortage of
personnel and vessels could no longer be ignored, experts saids.. Experts also testified that the
service’s acquisition plans were inadequate for replacing old vessels and
commissioning long-range cutters needed for patrolling the Indo-Pacific region.
In its gutted state, the US Coast
Guard is underprepared to carry out law enforcement duties in the Pacific Ocean
and compete with China’s heavily militarized coast guard—a key perpetrator of
illegal grey-zone operations.
More
ships and more sailors are only part of the solution. The Coast Guard must also
explore advanced technologies that enhance its ability to deter Chinese
operations,?the committee was told at the June 4 hearing.
One
suggestion from former US Navy captain Brent Sadler, a senior researcher at the
Heritage Foundation, was to deploy a non-lethal directed-energy device, the
Active Denial System (ADS), on Coast Guard cutters…Sadler also urged that the Coast Guard should lift its anti-cyber
warfare capabilities. In May, a China-linked hacking
group attacked several European cargo ships, demonstrating a
dangerous cyber threat to maritime commerce.
Boosting
cybersecurity capabilities is essential. American ports lack sufficient
cybersecurity infrastructure despite facing increasing cyber threats from
Chinese hacking organizations…Finally, Eric Cooper, a former US Coast Guard
officer and present senior policy researcher at the RAND Corporation, advised
that the coast guard should lean harder
into international maritime law enforcement partnerships. The US already
has shiprider agreements with 11 Pacific Island nations and a history of joint
maritime law enforcement exercises with regional allies. The Coast Guard must
strengthen these relationships, which provide a valuable platform for
cooperative operations, training, and information sharing, Cooper said. This is
essential to deter China’s grey-zone maritime behavior and prevent the outbreak
of kinetic conflict.
Overall,
the hearing demonstrated that maritime security experts endorse the US Coast
Guard’s role in countering China’s grey-zone activities in the Pacific Ocean. A well-equipped, technologically advanced
coast guard that participates rigorously in international maritime law
enforcement cooperation is essential to America’s broader deterrence strategy
against China’s maritime aggression and to maintaining the rule of law in the
Indo-Pacific.