The US Coast Guard is focused on helping Pacific island nations combat illegal activities in an effort to strengthen their allegiance to Washington as China’s influence grows across the region, its highest-ranking officer Admiral Karl Schultz said on Monday. Collin Koh, research fellow at the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies at NTU Singapore, said the US and Chinese coastguards also had a history of cooperation in the north Pacific on fishery problems. “The situation will not escalate to the extent of a clash because of the existing cooperation between the two organisations,” he said.