Chinese research ships and US military active in north Pacific, shows monitor
Sign up now: Get insights on Asia's fast-moving developments
Follow topic:
SYDNEY – Five Chinese research vessels, including ships used for space and missile tracking and underwater mapping, were active in the north-west Pacific in October, as the US stepped up military exercises, data from a Guam-based group shows.
Rapid militarisation in the northern Pacific gets insufficient attention, said the Pacific Center for Island Security (PCIS), adding that it makes island populations a potential target in any great-power conflict.
“If you look at the number of US and bilateral and multilateral exercises, there is a lot of activity,” Mr Leland Bettis, the director of the group that seeks to flag regional security risks, said in an interview.
“Is the fact that the Chinese are sending research vessels into this area to map what is effectively (the) undersea battle space surprising? Probably not.”
The centre’s Micronesia Security Monitor, launched on Nov 20, shows three Chinese research vessels – including the space and missile tracking ship Yuanwang 7 – near the tiny Pacific island of Kiribati in October.
A Pacific Ocean neighbour of Hawaii with close ties to Beijing, Kiribati has a vast exclusive economic zone spanning 3.6 million sq km.
In 2024, it expressed concern over China’s test of an intercontinental missile that landed near its waters.
Two more Chinese research vessels travelled east of the US territory of Guam, near island states with US defence compacts – the Federated States of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands – the monitor showed.
China’s Foreign Ministry did not respond to a request for comment on the purpose of the Pacific research vessel activity. Kiribati did not respond to a request for comment.
Between August and November, the US conducted nine multilateral war drills near Guam with allies such as Australia, India, Japan and South Korea, the monitor showed.
The US has military bases in both Guam and the Marshall Islands, and overflight rights and maritime access to three freely associated states – Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands.
“Thirty years ago, the US presence in these places would have been a deterrent, today that makes us a target as a result of modern technology,” said PCIS’s Mr Bettis, who lives in Guam, shortly before the Nov 20 launch.
The monitor’s visuals also show the spread of the US military footprint across Micronesia, including upgraded wharves and airfields.
The project is funded by commercial donors – the Carnegie Corporation and the Sasakawa Peace Foundation. REUTERS
