China Coast Guard Gains New Powers

Asian News International

15 February 2021

The Chinese government rammed through a new domestic law on 22 January 2021 giving the China Coast Guard (CCG) greater authority, a move that will boost tensions in the South China, East China and Yellow Seas. The CCG had been complaining for years about inadequate legislation governing how it should use force. Some proponents for change thus argued for greater flexibility when responding to contingencies. Dr Collin Koh, Research Fellow at the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies in Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, said, “Authorizing agencies to open fire in the course of their law enforcement and sovereignty assertion duties is nothing new, since coastal states have had domestic laws governing such provisions. In 2018, Vietnam passed its new coast guard law that outlines the same. What’s interesting is how Beijing seeks to define the conditions and a ‘ladder’ governing graduated use of firearms.”

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