Active July 2013 – present Type Coast Guard | Country China Size 16296 personnel | |
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Branch State Oceanic Administration Role Coastal defense, maritime law enforcement, search and rescue | ||
The China Coast Guard (Chinese: 中国海警) serves as a coordinating agency for maritime search and rescue and law enforcement in the territorial waters of the People's Republic of China. The China Coast Guard was formerly the maritime branch of the People's Armed Police (MPS). In March 2013, China announced it would form a unified Coast Guard commanded by the State Oceanic Administration.
Contents
Function
The CCG is known to perform mostly coastal and oceanic search and rescue or patrols, including anti-smuggling operations. During wartime it may be placed under the operational control of the People's Liberation Army Navy.
Roles
Roles of the CCG are diverse but include:
Command
The Chinese Coast Guard was not under an independent command until 2013. Formally they were part of the armed police, under the local (provincial) border defense force command. The largest operational unit of the CCG is a CCG flotilla, which is a regimental-level unit in China’s military administrative hierarchy. Every coastal province has 1 to 3 Coast Guard flotillas. Currently there are twenty CCG flotillas across the country:
Training
The Chinese Coast Guard conducts periodic joint-training sessions with other navies, including the US Coast Guard service. The Chinese Coast Guard also participates in the annual North Pacific Coast Guard Agencies Forum in Alaska, along with US, Canadian, Japanese, South Korean, and Russian Coast Guards. As part of an exchange program, members of the Chinese Coast Guard service have been assigned to serve on U.S. Coast Guard cutters.
Equipment
The CCG has received quite a few large patrol ships that would significantly enhance their operations. Hai Guan(customs), militia, police and other services operate hundreds of small patrol craft. For maritime patrol services, these craft are usually quite well armed with machine guns and 37mm AA guns. In addition, these services operate their own small aviation units to assist their maritime patrol capabilities. CCG operates a handful of Harbin Z-9 helicopters, and a maritime patrol aircraft based on the Harbin Y-12 STOL transport.
Aircraft
In March, 2016, a MA-60H maritime patrol aircraft with CCG painting was published by Chinese media.
Vessels
Chinese Coast Guard ships are painted white with blue stripe and wording China Coast Guard in English and Chinese.
Typical Coast Guard ships include the 130 ton Type 218 patrol boat (100 boats), armed with twin 14.5mm machine guns, assorted speedboats, and few larger patrol ships. Up until very recently, the largest ship in Chinese Coast Guard service was the 1,500 ton Type 718 cutter (31101 Pudong).
In March 2007, it was reported that the PLAN has transferred 2 Type 728 cutter (44102,ex-509 Changde;46103，ex-510 Shaoxing) to the Coast Guard and re-numbered them as 1002 & 1003. These ships are the largest vessels in the Coast Guard inventory.
Other boats include: