China Uses Disguised Fishing Fleets to Control Indo-Pacific, Challenge US Dominance in the Region: Author

Illegal Chinese fishing bosts are seen in neutral waters near Ganghwa island, South Korea, on June 10, 2016. (South Korean Defense Ministry via Getty Images)

China uses disguised fishing fleets in its efforts to gain control of the Indo-Pacific and challenge U.S. dominance in the region, according to veteran intelligence officer and author Grant Newsham.

The fleets, with their swarming tactics, double as a “maritime militia.”

“These are fishing boats. Sometimes they do fishing, but they’re also built [with] double hulls, up-engined. They have people with arms on them and [they] can use them to ram, to intimidate, and sink other vessels, particularly other fishing vessels,” Newsham recently told EpochTV’s “American Thought Leaders” program.

The tactic, he said, helps the communist regime to establish a long-term presence in various places and drive its opponents out.

“If you’re a fisherman, there’s no way you’re going to go in and challenge a big boat with a strong hull, a double hull, and guys with weapons on it, that is willing to ram and sink you and shoot you if necessary,” he said.

According to him, the tactic is part of the “gray-zone” warfare, which means the use of nontraditional methods and actors to achieve the goals of war, but without triggering an armed conflict.

An Aspect of Lawfare

If called out on the unorthodox strategy, China can argue that the aggressive vessels are just fishing boats, not naval vessels, making it difficult to come up with an effective or common-sense response, he noted.

“If the other guy knows that he can break the rules and elbow in on you and hurt you, and you’re not going to do anything, because it’s against the law, he’s going to take advantage of that. It’s almost an aspect of so-called lawfare, where the Chinese use international law to their advantage. Partly, it helps if they don’t obey it, and we do. You can see the advantage that it gives to the Chinese compared to us and others,” Newsham said.

He cited an August 2020 report in The Diplomat describing how China has routinely employed maritime militia fishing vessels over the past decade or so, backed by coast guard and naval forces, to encroach on Japan’s territorial sea surrounding the Senkaku Islands.

“In August 2016, some 230 Chinese fishing vessels swarmed the Senkaku Islands alongside Chinese Coast Guard (CCG) vessels. Eight fishing boats and CCG vessels repeatedly entered Japan’s territorial sea around the islands, while another 15 vessels repeatedly entered Japan’s contiguous zone,” the report said.

“The Chinese have done this now and then, and the purpose is to tell the Japanese, ‘Look, when the time comes we’re going to, they say, ‘assert administrative control,’ which is the legal term for asserting dominance of your territory. The Japanese are very worried about this,” Newsham noted.

In one incident in 2009, Chinese vessels, including fishing trawlers, harassed the U.S. ocean surveillance ship USNS Impeccable in the South China Sea.

Newsham believes this approach is more than just annoying. Beijing could use it to do direct harm to America.

“You can use these regular fishing boats, maritime militias to surreptitiously lay mines off of Japanese ports where the U.S. Navy operates. Cargo ships, for example, can launch drones that can cause the Americans a lot of trouble, say, as they’re sailing out of San Diego. These are things that we don’t think of as war-fighting, but it’s a wonderful platform and we should expect that we’re going to have to deal with it,” he said.

Economic Warfare

As the author of the upcoming “When China Attacks” and with decades of experience in Asia, including as a U.S. Marine and a diplomat, Newsham said that China has a very different concept of war and of bringing its enemy under control.

“To the Chinese, the shooting is the last thing, if it’s even necessary. Ideally, you’ve weakened your enemy and enemies to the point that they can’t respond effectively, and /or can’t respond at all. You do this with methods that don’t involve shooting people, although they are willing to do that, or they have other people do the shooting for them,” he said.

This doctrine of warfare is multifaceted, Newsham said, and can include economic warfare, biological war, chemical war, cyberwarfare, and proxy warfare.

In terms of economic warfare, he said, “The idea is to drive your opponents or your competitors out of business, to get their technology, suck the know-how out of them, rig the system in China so that you can build up Chinese companies.”

He pointed to China’s participation in the World Trade Organization in 2000, after the regime’s most favored nation/normal trade relations status was made permanent by the Clinton administration in the same year.

“Despite not meeting any of the requirements that every other country would need, things went wild and American businesses started flocking to China. China turned into this manufacturing juggernaut,” he said.

He cited a 2018 report by the Economic Policy Institute, that said 3.5 million manufacturing jobs were lost as a result of letting China into the World Trade Organization.

“It’s weakened us and it’s strengthened China, as the Chinese economy has grown,” Newsham said.

The strategy is very effective, he continued. “You create a dependency for other countries, that are dependent on you, America not the least. It helps you develop your military as well. It’s very much a net gain for the Chinese and a net loss for us. But once again, there’s a psychological aspect to it.”