China research ships are ramping up activity in U.S. Arctic, Coast Guard says

Chinese research ships are appearing more often in the United States Arctic than they have in years past, the U.S. Coast Guard said. In response, Coast Guard crews are ramping up their presence in U.S. Arctic waters to address what they’ve described in a news release as “increased activity” as of late by Chinese research vessels in that area.

The Coast Guard has detected and responded to two Chinese research ships currently operating in the U.S. Arctic, and five similar vessels are being monitored in or near the polar region, according to the federal agency, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security.

Last week, a C-130J Hercules aircraft from the U.S. Coast Guard station and military base in Kodiak, Alaska, identified the two Chinese research ships, called Ji Di and Zhong Shan Da Xue Ji Di,  as they traveled northeastward across the Bering Sea. The Coast Guard said the crew of its cutter Waesche responded for a second time to the Zhong Shan Da Xue Ji Di, a Liberian-flagged ship operated by the Chinese university Sun Yat-Sen, the following day, while the ship traveled in the Chukchi Sea above the Arctic Circle after exiting the Bering Strait.

Those encounters with Chinese research vessels came after the Coast Guard deployed a C-130J Hercules aircraft to respond to another China-flagged research ship, the Xue Long 2, in July. That ship was operated by China’s Polar Research Institute and detected about 290 nautical miles north of Utqiagvik, Alaska, in the North American Arctic, the Coast Guard reported at the time.

“The presence of these vessels is consistent with a three-year trend of increased activity from Chinese research vessels operating in the U.S. Arctic,” the Coast Guard said in its latest news release on the matter. “Last year, three Chinese research vessels conducted research operations north of the Bering Strait.”

Faris Tanyos

contributed to this report.