The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Kimball, pictured, encountered three PRC naval vessels near the Aleutian Islands in July 2024. U.S. COAST GUARD
THE WATCH STAFF
People’s Republic of China (PRC) naval vessels sailed within the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in July 2024 but didn’t enter U.S. territorial waters, the Coast Guard confirmed on July 10, 2024. The incident follows a highly publicized joint patrol of Russian and PRC naval ships in seas near Alaska in 2023. When contacted by the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Kimball, PRC naval officials stated their purpose was “freedom of navigation operations,” an international maritime law that underpins much of the rules-based order that the PRC is currently undermining in the Pacific. It has growing disputes with the U.S. and its allies about their ships sailing in the Taiwan Strait and other areas near Japan, the Philippines and Vietnam that the PRC has claimed exclusive rights over.
The Kimball’s crew encountered three PRC ships about 124 nautical miles north of the Amchitka Pass in the Aleutian Islands on July 6. The next day, an HC-130J spotted another PRC ship about 84 nautical miles north of the pass, according to a Coast Guard news release. The Coast Guard said the ships remained in international waters but did transverse the EEZ, which extends 200 nautical miles from the U.S. shoreline. “The Chinese naval presence operated in accordance with international rules and norms,” Rear Adm. Megan Dean, 17th Coast Guard District commander, said in the statement. “We met presence with presence to ensure there were no disruptions to U.S. interests in the maritime environment around Alaska.” The Kimball monitored all ships until they transited south of the Aleutian Islands into the North Pacific Ocean. “The Coast Guard, in co-ordination with U.S. Northern Command, was fully aware of and tracked the Chinese naval presence,” the release stated.
Local fishermen heard radio transmissions from the PRC ships, reported to include a destroyer and a guided-missile cruiser, warning ships to keep their distance. Fisherman also reported seeing the Kimball at full speed in pursuit of the ships, reported the Juneau News, an Alaskan newspaper. The PRC ships appeared about a week after the PRC began its annual joint patrol with the Russian Navy in the Pacific. The Associated Press, citing a July 5, 2024, report from the U.S. Naval Institute, said the flotilla is not as large as it has been in recent years. The 2023 flotilla contained 10 ships. No Russian ships were reported in the vicinity this year.
Alaskan Sen. Dan Sullivan noted to AP that this marks the third consecutive year that PRC vessels have sailed near his state. “Our military needs to be ready for increasing Chinese and joint Chinese and Russian military activity near Alaska’s coast,” Sullivan told AP. “I also met yesterday morning with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and specifically raised this issue — how America must be much more prepared for the increasing activity in the Arctic, and to also let Alaskans know that our military is on the job protecting our state and our country.”
The principle of freedom of navigation underpins free and fair global trade and protects countries from being cordoned off by stronger powers. The U.S. Navy and its allies and partners routinely conducts freedom of navigation operations in areas like the South China Sea. In that region, freedom of navigation operations are often condemned by the PRC and occasionally met with shows of force.