US coastguard rejects China claim it illegally boarded Chinese fishing boats in Pacific: host nat

Publish date: 2024-05-02

“China is not obliged to accept the law enforcement of countries other than coastal states for fishing activities in their exclusive economic zones,” the letter said.

US coastguard Rear Admiral Michael Day on Wednesday said the Chinese ambassador’s statement was inaccurate and the bilateral shiprider agreements complied with international law.

“We do these boardings at the behest of those host nations who invite us to board, to work with them collaboratively in protecting their exclusive economic zones,” he said at a press conference in Honolulu to mark the return of the US Coast Guard cutter Harriet Lane after its Pacific islands patrol.

“A free and open Indo-Pacific is predicated upon the following of international rules and norms and laws, and I am happy to say the coastguard is complying with all international law and these are legal boardings.”

Commander Nicole Tesoniero said shiprider agreements with Samoa, Fiji, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea had resulted in 23 boardings of fishing boats operating in the “far reaches of the respective countries’ exclusive economic zones”, with 12 violations found by local police.

“The targeting of vessels within the exclusive economic zones as well as the enforcement actions were all dictated by our partners,” she said.

In an interview in Sydney, Admiral John Aquilino, commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, said China’s fishing fleet in the South Pacific should be viewed as a “maritime militia”, based on its activities in the South China Sea and East China Sea.

“Those fishing vessels are the maritime militia,” Aquilino said.

Those fishing vessels are the maritime militiaUS Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral John Aquilino
“If it were to get to a time or place where we have a crisis, and you look at Scarborough Shoal or the Senkakus, those fishing vessels are fishing and then they will take on a mission of pressurising the host nation or the nation whose exclusive economic zone they are operating in,” he said, using the Japanese name for East China Sea islets Tokyo administers but Beijing claims as the Diaoyu Islands.

In the letter, ambassador Wang said China exercised strict supervision over its distant water fishing fleets, had “a zero tolerance attitude towards illegal fishing”, and respected the sovereign rights of coastal states.

Australia, New Zealand and Britain have also stepped up navy patrols for illegal fishing in partnership with Pacific islands nations, many of whom do not have militaries or boats to monitor coastal waters and exclusive economic zones spanning millions of kilometres.

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