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since the beginning of this year, as the confrontation between china and the philippines in the south china sea has become increasingly fierce, the chinese coast guard in the south china sea has begun to appear frequently in the news.

but during the national day, the chinese coast guard once again made headlines, but this time it was not in the south china sea, but in the "north sea."

on october 1, china coast guard ships 2303 meishan and 2305 xiushan sailed through the bering strait and officially entered the arctic ocean. this was the first time that chinese coast guard ships entered the arctic ocean.

many people will find out after seeing the photos of the chinese coast guard entering the arctic ocean, why do these two coast guard ships look so familiar?

yes, these two coast guard ships are actually type 818 coast guard ships built based on the type 054a guided missile frigate. they have a full load displacement of 3,800 tons, strong endurance and self-sustainability, and are more suitable for such long-distance missions.

so, what are the chinese coast guard ships doing in the arctic ocean now?

two words: break the situation.

the first round is the containment round.

in our chinese concept, coast guard ships seem to be police officers at sea, doing some anti-smuggling and illegal fishing work.

but in fact, in some western countries, the "coast police" refers to a larger scope of the coast guard, but the tasks it undertakes have actually long gone beyond the scope of the "coast" and have become a paramilitary department. .

for example, the u.s. coast guard, which belongs to the u.s. department of homeland security and is also part of the u.s. armed forces, has more than 260 ships of various types and is the "12th largest navy in the world."

not surprisingly, as the game between china and the united states becomes increasingly fierce, the u.s. coast guard has begun to get deeply involved in activities to contain and suppress china.

for example, the united states has signed a "ship-borne observer agreement" with 12 pacific island countries, which allows the u.s. coast guard to observe, search and board "suspected ships" in its exclusive economic zone or designated high seas without the presence of personnel from the relevant countries. vessel that violates the law.”

based on this, the united states began to frequently board and inspect chinese fishing boats in the high seas of the pacific, claiming to "crack down on illegal fishing by chinese fishermen." u.s. coast guard spokesman john major even said nakedly: "u.s. law enforcement officers you can board any vessel at will in the waters near papua new guinea, even if it is flying the chinese flag.”

what’s even more outrageous is that the u.s. coast guard also announced that it would “help weak democracies formulate regional strategies.” some u.s. politicians and senior military officials also threatened that the u.s. coast guard would “help japan and the philippines conduct law enforcement patrols,” in an attempt to provoke china's sovereignty in the east china sea and south china sea.

▲in june 2023, a us coast guard patrol ship docked in the philippines

at this year’s “quadrilateral mechanism” summit between the united states, japan, india, and australia, the four countries also approved coast guard cooperation.

obviously, in addition to its naval power, the united states has created a new line of defense to contain china at sea. and because of the "non-military" nature of the coast guard, china cannot do anything to them, nor can it dispatch warships to confront them, which brings difficulties to china's maritime rights protection.

how should china respond? it can only be said that only by dispatching the "non-military" coast guard can targeted confrontation and rights protection be achieved.

in june this year, china completed its law enforcement registration with the wcpfc (western and central pacific fisheries commission). the law enforcement is based on the convention on the conservation and management of highly migratory fish stocks in the western and central pacific, which came into effect on june 19, 2004. under the management of this convention, 20% of the global ocean area covers the first, second and third island chains, such as the bering sea, the aleutian islands and even the waters off alaska.

after achieving law enforcement registration, china can legally board any foreign fishing vessel for inspection in such a vast area. this is equivalent to breaking the containment of the first, second and third island chains in the field of law enforcement and opening up to the whole world. declaration to the world: the china coast guard not only manages china’s exclusive economic zone, we must also control the high seas! your coast guard can come to my door, and my coast guard can come to yours!

once the area of ​​activity is expanded, many things will become easier to handle. when chinese cargo ships and fishing boats encounter the us coast guard in the pacific, as long as there are chinese coast guard ships nearby, they can respond quickly and deal with various difficult problems.

in addition, it can also provide russia with some strategic support in diplomacy. since last year, the us coast guard has frequently harassed and seized russian fishing boats in the bering strait, and the russian coast guard is weak, so it has attached great importance to it since last year. pull the tiger skin of the chinese coast guard to embolden yourself.

therefore, the main task of the chinese coast guard this time is actually to carry out joint patrols in the north pacific with the russian coast guard. going to the arctic ocean is just another matter.

the second bureau is the strategic bureau.

in may this year, during putin's visit to china, he and china issued a joint statement.

the joint statement mentioned three cooperation projects, the arctic waterway, heixiazi island and the tumen river estuary.

it seems that these three projects have nothing to do with each other, but if you think about it for a moment, you will find that this is a grand layout that is enough to overturn the geostrategic pattern of the entire northeast asia region.

let’s look at the arctic passage first. the arctic passage is not a new term. originally, the arctic was a thick ice cap that directly connected the northern end of the eurasian continent. however, as the earth's climate has continued to warm over the years, the ice caps have become smaller and smaller. at least there is no ice in the offshore summer, which provides the conditions for developing arctic shipping lanes.

chinese cargo ships depart from the arctic sea route to europe. on the one hand, the distance is short. compared with the suez canal route, it is 5,000 kilometers shorter, which can save about 15 days. on the other hand, it is safe. you don’t have to go through the strait of malacca and avoid the dilemma of malacca.

therefore, china and russia announced in a joint statement that they will establish an arctic waterway cooperation subcommittee to promote the construction of arctic waterway logistics infrastructure.

but what? there is a bug in this route, and that is the tsushima strait. chinese cargo ships departing from qingdao or dalian ports to the bering strait must go through the tsushima strait. isn't this a new dilemma?

therefore, china and russia proposed a development plan for heixiazi island. heixiazi island is located at the intersection of the heilongjiang river and the ussuri river. it is very suitable for building a water port, and the river has abundant water and strong navigation capabilities. therefore, in heilongjiang’s planning, there has always been a plan to develop heixiazi island for rail-water intermodal transport. now that the development of heixiazi island has been included in the joint statement, it is obvious that heixiazi island has great prospects for going to sea.

of course, this plan is good, but because the latitude of the sea outlet is too high, it will freeze in winter. after all the hard work to build a port, it can't be only open to navigation for half a year, right? it doesn't matter, there is still tumen river estuary. the china-russia "joint statement" contains this sentence: the two sides will conduct constructive dialogue with the democratic people's republic of korea on the issue of chinese ships sailing through the lower reaches of the tumen river.

if this matter is implemented, chinese cargo ships can go down the river and directly enter the sea of ​​japan, either directly taking the arctic route, or going to vladivostok to change to a larger ship and then go to the arctic ocean.

the greatest significance of this matter is not that it allows the three northeastern provinces to obtain an outlet that can directly go to the sea. more importantly, it allows china to obtain a route to europe and even africa that will never be threatened! if the united states threatens china with malacca and the indian ocean route in the future, china will have the confidence to respond! in other words, i can use this route, but i can’t live without it!

so the question is, how to maintain safety on this route? although it is russia's sphere of influence all the way, you may still encounter american and canadian coast guard ships in the arctic ocean after all!

▲u.s. coast guard icebreaker

if warships are dispatched to escort, the chinese navy is fully capable of this, but this will undoubtedly stimulate russia's already entangled emotions. therefore, it is more appropriate to dispatch "non-military" coast guard, and to maintain the safety of arctic waterways in the name of "law enforcement".

the third round is the future round.

in 1975, china put forward a proposal to build a chinese scientific research station in antarctica.

but at that time, we were facing great difficulties both in terms of funding and manpower. many people felt that there was no need to go to antarctica for scientific research because there were so many things going on at home.

however, high-level officials gave instructions that "it is good to take a leisurely step when you are busy." so all obstacles disappeared. at the end of 1984, china's first antarctic expedition team arrived in antarctica aboard the "xiangyanghong no. 10" ocean-going scientific research vessel. officially one of the players on the antarctic chessboard.

likewise, going to the north pole now is a casual move china made in its busy schedule, and this move was laid out 100 years ago.

there is an archipelago in the arctic ocean called svalbard, which is rich in resources. at the end of the 19th century, norway and russia had a dispute over the sovereignty of the islands, and they refused to give in. for their own interests, the great powers proposed to make this archipelago "open". all countries "all interests are shared."

on february 9, 1920, a group of signatory countries signed the "svalbard treaty" in paris. the treaty recognized norway's sovereignty over the svalbard islands, but the rights to exploit the island's resources were equally enjoyed by all signatory countries. citizens of the svalbard islands can freely enter and leave the svalbard islands, and can freely engage in scientific research, mining, business and a series of activities other than military activities on the island. there is no time limit and there is no need to apply for a stay permit from norway.

interestingly, the then chinese beiyang government also sent representatives to sign this treaty. in this way, china has the right to develop the underground resources of svalbard and the surrounding sea resources.

however, after china signed this treaty, it forgot about it. it was not until the 1990s when china was preparing to build its own arctic scientific research station that it was discovered in the pile of old papers that china had also signed this treaty. so it quickly contacted norway and asked to exercise the " rights under the treaty of svalbard.

the treaty was signed in black and white, and norway had nothing to say. on july 28, 2004, china's arctic yellow river station was completed and put into use. since then, china has had a permanent observation and research platform in the arctic region, completing china's strategic layout for participating in the arctic game.

you must know that the arctic is one of the last undeveloped sea areas for mankind. not only is there rich fishery resources under the ice, but more importantly, due to the surrounding land, more than half of the arctic ocean is located on the continental shelf, which is a typical oil and gas hidden area. .

according to recent survey results, the oil reserves at the bottom of the arctic ocean in the arctic circle are as high as 90 billion barrels, accounting for 13% of the world's total reserves. in addition, the arctic ocean contains a quarter of the world’s untapped natural gas reserves!

as the arctic glaciers gradually melt, the development of arctic oil and gas resources seems unstoppable under the temptation of huge resources.

but what? if you have no sense of presence in the arctic, it means that you are not a stakeholder. when the arctic resources are divided in the future, it will naturally not be your turn.

for china, sending coast guard ships into the arctic ocean can not only measure various hydrographies and accumulate data for future arctic routes, but more importantly, it can demonstrate its jurisdiction by implementing administrative law enforcement in the arctic ocean.

then when countries sign the arctic treaty and carve up the arctic ocean in the future, china will be eligible to demand a share of the pie.

therefore, strength determines status. now that we have strength in hand, for the benefit of future generations, china must fight if it should.

after all, china’s ancient territory once included the coast of the arctic ocean. who can say that the arctic ocean has not been china’s “since ancient times”?