China Coast Guard

The China Coast Guard is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the People's Armed Police of China. The emergency number of the Coast Guard is 95110, which began operation in 2019.
Between 2013 and 2023, the CCG confiscated a total of 9.875 tonnes of drugs, 21 billion RMB worth of smuggled goods and 12 million tonnes of stolen sand, along with responding to over 53,000 emergency calls and handling 24,000 cases.

History

Prior to 2013, five Chinese departments had maritime law enforcement responsibilities leading to "waste, inefficiency, and disarray". In March 2013, the National People's Congress authorized the creation of the CCG under the State Oceanic Administration. The CCG combined the SOA's China Marine Surveillance, the Ministry of Agriculture's , the Ministry of Public Security's , and the 's Maritime elements. Locally controlled and funded CMS and CFLE units remained separate. The Ministry of Transport's Maritime Safety Administration and search and rescue organizations were not merged, possibly to reduce the difficulty of the reorganization or to allow the MSA to be continue to be differentiated from the more aggressive CCG for foreign relations purposes. The CCG was officially created on 22 July 2013.
The 2013 CCG did not become an integrated service and the intended synergies failed to materialize. The founding organizations retained separate identities, missions, and cultures. The chain of command was unclear. Although technically subordinate to the SOA, the MPS had the authority to give "operational guidance" and Meng Hongwei, a vice-minister of the MPS, was appointed as head of the CCG. The MPS also staffed the nominally civilian CCG with personnel from its own paramilitary PAP. By April 2018, the CCG was unable to resolve these problems.
The CCG was reorganized in 2018 to be a part of the Chinese armed forces. The PAP was subordinated only to the Central Military Commission and received control of the CCG. By 2019, the CCG was commanded by Rear Admiral Wang Zhongcai of the People's Liberation Army Navy. The SOA was abolished with most of its civilian researchers and administrators transferring to the Ministry of Natural Resources, which "renounced any role in maritime law enforcement". Local CMS and CFLE units remained separate. On 22 June, the NPC authorized the transfer of the CCG to the PAP on 1 July; The CCG's missions were unchanged by the reforms.
Legal reform followed the 2018 reorganization. When the CCG was created it continued to operate under the pre-2013 legal framework used by the separate organizations. In 2020, the CCG's role in maritime criminal cases was clarified. In January 2021, the NPC passed a law standardizing CCG operations and clarifying the authorization for the use of force; the law permitted the use of lethal force to enforce Chinese territorial claims.
In June 2024, the CCG was authorized to detain foreign vessels and persons for up to 60 days.

Functions

The CCG duty is to perform regular patrols and reactive actions on the coastal, near sea, and open ocean areas of its jurisdiction. These actions include principally law enforcement tasks such as interdicting smuggling, illegal fisheries control, and protecting the environment.
The CCG also serves as an armed border guard, protecting China's claimed maritime borders, which often leads to conflict and controversy. As a constituent part of the Chinese Armed Forces, on wartime it would be placed under the operational control of the People's Liberation Army Navy, in which case it would be likely to play support roles and rear-area escort.

Law enforcement

The first set of duties of the CCG according to the China Coast Guard Law include seven law enforcement tasks:

fighting maritime violations and crimes,
preserving maritime safety and security,
development and utilization of marine resources,
marine ecological and environmental protection,
management of marine fishery resources,
carrying out anti-smuggling tasks on the sea,
coordinating and guiding local maritime law enforcement.
Maritime safety

Another set of responsibilities come from maritime safety. While maritime safety, SAR, and the enforcement of the rules of marine safety is the main remit of the China Maritime Safety Administration, and the leading organ in active SAR is the China Rescue and Salvage Bureau, the CCG, as the main maritime law enforcement agency, is involved very often in rescue operations. It also supports the CMSA in enforcing maritime safety rules and inspect ships suspected of presenting risks to navigation.

International cooperation

International cooperation and coordination is one of the official tasks of the CCG. Part of this is cooperation with friendly nations for mutually beneficial tasks.
More critical is cooperation with neighboring states on matters of mutual interest, in particular fisheries and smuggling. The frequency of that cooperation often correlates with the state of bilateral relationships, but institutional connections do remain continuously active.
In the 2000s and early 2010s, the Chinese Coast Guard conducted periodic joint-training sessions with other navies in the North Pacific, including the US Coast Guard service. The Chinese Coast Guard has also participated in the annual North Pacific Coast Guard Agencies Forum in Alaska, along with the US, Canadian, Japanese, South Korean, and Russian Coast Guards. As part of an exchange program, around 109 members of the Chinese Coast Guard service have served on U.S. Coast Guard cutters.
The worsening of US-China relationships in the last few years, in particular the ongoing conflict regarding the South China Sea have all but ended the co-training missions with the USCG, although the purely civilian CMSA still keeps a very close working relationship with its counterparts in the US and Japan.

Territorial sovereignty and rights protection

As China's claims of sovereign waters are extensive and overlap with several other countries, enforcing this doctrine has created a very large number of incidents and controversies involving the CCG. These often escalate to skirmishes and tense brinkmanship in what has been called grey-zone operations. The CCG is at the forefront of these incidents. The probable reason for that usage, according to international analysts is that putting the paramilitary "White Hulls" and the "Blue Hulls" at the forefront avoids the dangerous escalation that would happen if the unambiguously military "Gray Hulls" were involved in an incident.
The CCG is very active in patrolling those rights. The result is a significant number of incidents of varying levels of tension. In 2019, the United States issued a warning to China over aggressive and unsafe action by their Coast Guard and maritime militia. In 2023, the Coast Guard used water cannons on Philippines military ships in contested waters. In 2024, the PAFMM and CCG entered into a tense standoff with the Philippines over the Second Thomas Shoal.

Organization

Following the 2018 reforms, the CCG hierarchy - from senior to junior - are the CCG Bureau in Beijing, the regional branch bureaus, the provincial-level bureaus, the municipal-level bureaus and work stations.
There are currently 3 regional bureaus:

East Sea Bureau
South Sea Bureau
North Sea Bureau

The provincial and municipal bureaus conduct coastal missions. These are 11 such bureaus, one for each coastal region.
The Jiangsu, Shanghai, Zhejiang and Fujian bureaus are part of the East Sea Bureau, the Guangdong, Guangxi and Hainan bureaus are part of the South Sea Bureau and the Liaoning, Hebei, Tianjin and Shandong Bureaus are part of the North Sea Bureau.
The regional bureaus also control "directly subordinate bureaus" which control most of the large cutters and execute most sovereignty enforcement missions. These bureaus and their locations are:

1st - part of the East Sea Bureau
2nd - part of the East Sea Bureau
3rd - part of the South Sea Bureau
4th - part of the South Sea Bureau
5th - part of the South Sea Bureau
6th - part of the North Sea Bureau
Aviation units

The CCG operates 3 aircraft groups, with each regional bureau operating one aircraft group.

1st Aviation Group - Headquarters in Zhoushan Putuoshan International Airport, part of East Sea Bureau
2nd Aviation Group - Headquarters in Zhuhai Jinwan Airport, part of South Sea Bureau. Operates Z-9 helicopters.
3rd Aviation Group - Headquarters in Jinan Pingyin Agricultural airport, part of North Sea Bureau. Operates Z-9 helicopters.
Equipment

Some Chinese Coast Guardsmen have night vision devices.

Firearms

Chinese coast guard personnel are most commonly seen with QBZ-95 rifles.

Vessels

Aircraft

The Chinese Coast Guard has used modified versions of the Xi'an MA60 airliner known as the MA60H as a marine patrol aircraft. The Harbin Z-9 and Wing Loong II UAV have also been used by the Chinese Coast Guard.

Personnel

CCG ships are staffed by People's Armed Police personnel. China Coast Guard Academy is a dedicated institution that provides training for personnel entering the CCG.
The CCG have been seen with aerial assault boarding units which deploy from helicopters along with diving units.

Line of duty deaths

There is currently one recorded LODD of CCG personnel.

Rank and name	Chinese name	Badge number	End of watch	Unit	Cause
Sergeant Wang Xiaolong	汪晓龙	0115479	2023-03-24	Guangdong Coast Guard Bureau, Shanwei Municipal Coast Guard Bureau, Chengqu Coast Guard Station	Killed by speedboat propeller after falling into water during struggle while conducting a smuggling interdiction mission. Another coast guardsman, Lin Qingping was heavily injured but survived the incident.