By Kirsty Needham and Lucy Craymer
SYDNEY/WELLINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Coast Guard has rejected comments from a Chinese diplomat that its recent boardings of Chinese fishing boats in the Pacific islands alongside local police were illegal, saying the joint patrols were at the request of Pacific nations to protect the coasts. fisheries.
Reuters reported last month that six Chinese fishing boats were violating Vanuatu’s fisheries law after being inspected by local police who were aboard the first U.S. Coast Guard boat to patrol the island nation’s waters. of the Pacific.
China’s Ambassador to New Zealand, Wang Xiaolong, said in a letter released by the Chinese Embassy on Friday that the use of shiprider agreements between the United States and Vanuatu, Kiribati and Papua New Guinea to ” carrying out law enforcement activities against Chinese fishing vessels” was a violation of international law.
In the letter, Wang says the agreements are not binding on China’s fishing fleet.
“China is not obliged to accept law enforcement by countries other than coastal states for fishing activities in their exclusive economic zones,” the letter said.
U.S. Coast Guard Rear Admiral Michael Day said Wednesday that the Chinese ambassador’s statement was inaccurate and that the bilateral Shiprider agreements were consistent with international law.
“We are carrying out these boardings at the request of host countries who invite us to board, to work with them collaboratively in the protection of 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 his patrol in the Pacific Islands.
“A free and open Indo-Pacific relies on respect for international rules, standards and laws, and I am pleased to say that the Coast Guard is complying with all international laws and that these collisions are legal.”
Commander Nicole Tesoniero said shiprider agreements with Samoa, Fiji, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea had resulted in 23 collisions of fishing boats operating in “the confines of these respective countries’ exclusive economic zones”, with 12 violations observed by the local police.
“The targeting of ships in exclusive economic zones as well as coercive measures have all been 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 considered a “maritime militia”, based on its activities in the South China Sea and the East China Sea. .
“These fishing boats are the maritime militia,” Aquilino said.
“If we get to a time or place where we have a crisis, and you look at Scarborough Shoal or the Senkakus, these fishing boats are fishing and they will then take on a pressure mission on the host country or the country whose exclusivity is assured. economic zone in which they operate,” he said.
In the letter, Ambassador Wang said China exercises strict supervision over its deep-sea fishing fleets, has “a zero-tolerance attitude toward illegal fishing” and respects the sovereign rights of coastal states.
The US Coast Guard patrols come after Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands, Pacific island nations with close ties to China, blocked a US Coast Guard ship from coming to port to refuel in 2022 and 2023 while undertaking an illegal fishing patrol on behalf of the Pacific. Regional bloc of the Islands Forum.
Australia, New Zealand and Britain have also stepped up naval patrols to combat illegal fishing, in partnership with Pacific island nations, many of which do not have armies or boats to police the waters coastal areas and exclusive economic zones stretching over millions of kilometers.
(Reporting by Kirsty Needham in Sydney and Lucy Craymer in Wellington; editing by Lincoln Feast.)
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