US says boarding of Chinese fishing boats is not illegal
Coastguard rejects claim by Beijing diplomat that ‘shiprider’ pacts break international law
The United States Coast Guard has rejected comments by a Beijing diplomat that its recent boardings of Chinese fishing boats in the Pacific alongside local police are illegal, saying the joint patrols are at the behest of regional nations to protect coastal fisheries.
Six Chinese fishing boats were reportedly found to be violating Vanuatu’s fisheries law last month after being inspected by local police who were on board the first US coastguard boat to patrol the waters of the Pacific island nation.
China’s ambassador to New Zealand Wang Xiaolong, in a letter circulated by the Chinese embassy on Friday, said the use of so-called shiprider agreements between the US and Vanuatu, Kiribati and Papua New Guinea to “carry out law enforcement activities against China’s fishing vessels” was a violation of international law.
Wang said the agreements were not binding.
“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 yesterday said the 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.
Admiral John Aquilino, chief 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.
“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. The Senkakus is the Japanese name for East China Sea islets Tokyo administers but Beijing claims as the Diaoyu Islands.
We do these boardings at the behest of those host nations who invite us to board, to work with them U.S. COASTGUARD REAR ADMIRAL MICHAEL DAY
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.
The US patrols come after Vanuatu and Solomon Islands, Pacific island nations with close ties to China, blocked the American coastguard vessels from coming to port to refuel in 2022 and 2023 as they looked for illegal fishing on behalf of the Pacific Islands Forum regional bloc.
Australia, New Zealand and Britain have also stepped up 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.