By Zachary Haver
China has lengthy denied that it makes use of maritime militia forces to say its maritime and territorial claims in South China Sea, usually describing the Chinese language vessels clustered round disputed reefs and islets as simply fishing boats.
However the paper path left by the Chinese language forms tells a distinct story.
RFA analyzed bidding paperwork, company data, and different official information in an effort to shed new mild on the maritime militia belonging to Sansha Metropolis, a municipality beneath Hainan province that administers China’s claims within the South China Sea from its headquarters on Woody Island within the Paracels.
RFA discovered that the state-owned fishing firm in control of Sansha Metropolis’s maritime militia fleet has managed tasks involving categorised nationwide safety info, a robust indicator that the corporate’s ships are engaged in additional than simply fishing.
Along with monitoring the fleet owned by this firm, RFA additionally uncovered proof that certainly one of its ships was used to check an experimental command and communications system constructed with overseas expertise, which seemingly remodeled the vessel right into a cellular communications and surveillance platform able to transmitting intelligence again to the authorities on land.
And referencing the company data of fishermen legally registered in Sansha Metropolis towards Chinese language state media reporting on the town’s militia, RFA additional verified that quite a few “fishermen” dwelling in Sansha are literally militiamen liable for guarding China’s outposts.
China’s maritime militia has been within the information. The presence of quite a few maritime militia ships at Whitsun Reef within the Spratly Islands in late March set off a diplomatic tussle between Beijing and Manila and prompted widespread worldwide criticism of China, regardless of its assertion that these have been simply fishing vessels sheltering from poor climate.
“Lately, some Chinese language fishing vessels take shelter close to Niu’e Jiao [Whitsun Reef] as a consequence of tough sea circumstances,” said a spokesperson for the Chinese language Embassy within the Philippines. “It has been a traditional observe for Chinese language fishing vessels to take shelter beneath such circumstances. There is no such thing as a Chinese language Maritime Militia as alleged,” the spokesperson said.
However multiple open-source investigations have confirmed the presence of militia vessels close to the reef.
Now, RFA is taking a step additional to make clear the true nature of China’s maritime militia, pulling again the curtain on the procurements, fleet, and personnel of this shadowy paramilitary power.
Categorised tasks
Sansha Metropolis established its new maritime militia in 2013 on the premise of the unique Paracel Islands militia. The Folks’s Liberation Military (PLA) Hainan Province Sansha Garrison on Woody Island took cost of coaching and commanding this new power, based on quite a few studies in Chinese language state media.
By July 2016, the town’s maritime militia had grown to incorporate over 1,800 militiamen and greater than 100 vessels, the Sansha Metropolis authorities reported. On the time, the municipal authorities described this power as enjoying an “irreplaceable position” in defending China’s maritime claims.
China’s expansive claims within the South China Sea overlap with claims from 5 different states — Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Brunei — and are a supply of great rigidity within the area.
In keeping with a 2015 article authored by Sansha Garrison Commander Cai Xihong within the PLA-run journal Nationwide Protection, the town created Sansha Metropolis Fisheries Growth Co, Ltd. to handle the militia’s new fleet of steel-hulled ships. Company data affirm that Sansha established this new municipal state-owned enterprise in February 2015.
Sansha Metropolis Fisheries Growth repeatedly invitations different corporations to bid on contracts to provide items and companies to the corporate. RFA discovered two such tasks from 2017 with both “categorised info techniques integration” or “state secrets and techniques safety” credentials necessities for the third-party provider. These safety {qualifications} are sometimes reserved for corporations and different entities engaged on categorised tasks for the PLA or the Chinese language authorities, which means that Sansha Metropolis Fisheries Growth is certainly the civilian entrance for a paramilitary power.
In late 2017, Sansha Metropolis Fisheries Growth employed Xi’an Jiangong Development Tendering Co., Ltd. to handle the bids for a “fishing boat hull underwater cleansing venture” price 5,628,640 yuan ($804,000). One announcement revealed by Xi’an Jiangong Development Tendering through the bidding course of states that the venture “includes nationwide safety and secrets and techniques” and one other specifies that the third-party provider will need to have a “state secrets and techniques safety” qualification.
And earlier in 2017, Sansha Metropolis Fisheries Growth tendered bids for a “particular tools” contract price 63,710,000 yuan ($9,101,400) for an “SX command system.” In keeping with the tendering announcement, the third-party provider wanted to have a “categorised info techniques integration first-class credential” or a “nationwide third-level or larger secrets and techniques safety qualification.” The previous covers the event, development, and operation of categorised info techniques on the top-secret stage; the latter covers weapons and tools analysis and growth tasks on the lowest classification stage, Chinese language rules say.
The corporate that gained the “SX command system” contract is Area Star Expertise Co., Ltd., often known as the CASC fifth Academy 503rd Analysis Institute, a subsidiary of the state-owned protection contractor China Aerospace Science and Expertise Company (CASC). Although the technical particulars of the “SX command system” stay unclear, Area Star Expertise’s web site and contracts reveal a variety of comparable capabilities, together with navy intelligence tools in addition to maritime communications and command techniques. One particular instance is a South China Sea monitoring system by way of which legislation enforcement ships and fishing boats from Guangdong province can gather info and transmit it again to a command middle on land in assist of the protection of China’s maritime claims.
If Sansha Metropolis Fisheries Growth actually have been a civilian fishing enterprise, why would the upkeep of its ships contain nationwide safety and state secrets and techniques? And why would a fishing firm want to obtain a extremely categorised info system from a state-owned protection contractor? These are clear indicators of the corporate’s militia connection.
A suspicious fleet
Along with digging up these categorised tasks, RFA discovered proof confirming that Sansha Metropolis Fisheries Growth manages a fleet of steel-hulled ships belonging to Sansha Metropolis’s maritime militia.
Every of the vessels on this fleet operates beneath the title of “Qiongsanshayu” adopted by a string of numbers. As per Chinese language naming conventions, “Qiong” signifies that the ships fall beneath the jurisdiction of Hainan province, “sansha” conveys that they belong to Sansha Metropolis, and “yu” marks them as ostensible fishing vessels.
A Chinese language authorities doc that RFA reviewed explicitly describes certainly one of these “Qiongsanshayu” vessels as belonging to Sansha Metropolis Fisheries Growth.
Utilizing the automated identification system (AIS) information from the MarineTraffic ship-tracking platform, RFA recognized 40 vessels working beneath the title of “Qiongsanshayu” whose conduct reveals ties to Sansha Metropolis Fisheries Growth.
Over the previous 12 months, every of those 40 vessels has operated from at the very least certainly one of three ports on the Hainan mainland: Sanya Yazhou, Wenchang Qinglan, and Danzhou Baimajiang.
In keeping with Chinese language authorities land-use data, Sansha Metropolis Fisheries Growth has long-term rights to area at every port. And bidding data present that the corporate has been actively creating its services in any respect three ports.
Throughout 2020, 16 of the 40 “Qiongsanshayu” ships sailed to a shipyard owned by Zhanjiang Haisheng Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. in Guangdong province. Sansha Metropolis Fisheries Growth employed Zhanjiang Haisheng Shipbuilding for a “2019-2020 fishing boat upkeep venture” in early 2019, bidding data present.
Satellite tv for pc imagery confirms the AIS information gathered by RFA, revealing organized rows of matching 60-meter-long steel-hulled fishing vessels at Sanya Yazhou, Wenchang Qinglan, Danzhou Baimajiang, and the Zhanjiang Haisheng Shipbuilding shipyard.
A proposal submitted to the Hainan authorities in 2015 means that Sansha’s militia fleet has at the very least 84 vessels.
Past Sansha Garrison Commander Cai Xihong’s admission that Sansha Metropolis Fisheries Growth manages the town’s militia steel-hulled fleet, a number of items of proof join the “Qiongsanshayu” fleet and its services to Sansha Metropolis’s maritime militia.
Procurement data from the Sansha Garrison — which is liable for coaching and commanding Sansha’s maritime militia — reveals the presence of devoted “militia bases” with coaching services close to each the Sanya Yazhou and Danzhou Baimajiang ports. A 2016 report within the PLA-run paper China Protection Information signifies that the Sansha Garrison makes use of militia bases on the Hainan mainland to coach militiamen in navigation, communications, and different expertise.
Ships resembling the “Qiongsanshayu” vessels additionally function in a music video produced by the Sansha Garrison, referred to as “Music of the Sansha Maritime Militia,” which depicts the town’s maritime militia coaching with weapons, performing surveillance, finishing up boarding operations, and fascinating in different such actions.
In keeping with recruitment paperwork from 2015, Sansha Metropolis Fisheries Growth has prioritized hiring PLA veterans to crew its ships. In truth, in 2019 the Hainan Division of Veterans Affairs recognized the corporate as a “mannequin unit” for PLA veterans.
Utilizing AIS information and satellite tv for pc imagery, RFA tracked 18 totally different “Qiongsanshayu” vessels finishing up deployments within the South China Sea during the last 12 months. These embrace deployments alongside the China Coast Guard (CCG) to Scarborough Shoal in April 2021 by the Qiongsanshayu 00402 and the Qiongsanshayu 00317, which sailed out collectively from Danzhou Baimajiang in March. China makes use of CCG and militia vessels to take care of a steady presence at Scarborough Shoal, which it has successfully managed since a standoff with the Philippines in 2012. In keeping with the Philippine government, the CCG harassed the Philippine Coast Guard close to Scarborough Shoal on April 24 and 25.
Extra just lately, a gaggle of at the very least 9 ships from the “Qiongsanshayu” fleet departed from the Sanya Yazhou, Wenchang Qinglan, and Danzhou Baimajiang ports on April 23, reaching the Spratly Islands by round April 25. This group included “Qiongsanshayu” vessels numbered 00206, 00208, 00212, 00214, 00223, 00227, 00228, 00232, and 00401.
Vessels from the “Qiongsanshayu” fleet additionally participated within the Haiyang Dizhi 8 standoff between Vietnam and China close to Vanguard Financial institution in 2019, have carried out joint rescue operations with the PLA Navy South Sea Fleet, and have participated in joint workout routines with Sansha Metropolis’s native maritime legislation enforcement power, based on AIS information, Chinese language authorities bulletins, and different such sources.
Experimental techniques and overseas expertise
Among the communications expertise put in on ships within the “Qiongsanshayu” fleet additionally point out that they’re extra than simply odd fishing boats.
The Hainan Communications Administration just lately led a venture to check a shipborne “emergency satellite tv for pc command and communications” system for maritime legislation enforcement, fishing, and emergency administration within the South China Sea, based on a February 2018 environmental affect evaluation.
The last word objective of this venture was to construct satellite tv for pc hyperlinks between shipborne techniques, floor communications networks, and an emergency command middle, successfully extending flows of data to and from distant areas of the contested South China Sea.
With approval from China’s Ministry of Business and Data Expertise, this experimental system was to be put in on the Qiongsanshayu 00209 and certainly one of Sansha Metropolis’s provide ships, the Qiongsha 3. It included new {hardware} and software program to comprehend localized cellular communications protection, voice communications, video surveillance, information transmission, and different capabilities.
The environmental affect evaluation states that the Qiongsanshayu 00209 belongs to Sansha Metropolis Fisheries Growth, is 58.5 meters lengthy and 9.2 meters huge, and has 20-person crew. It implies that the Qiongsanshayu is predicated at Wenchang Qinglan, offering an image of the ship moored at port.
This isn’t the one case of ostensibly civilian vessels being outfitted with high-end surveillance and communications expertise. RFA has reported that Sansha Metropolis is putting in comparable techniques on its Sansha 1 and Sansha 2 provide ships for the express goal of monitoring vessels from the US, Japan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Taiwan.
The experimental system on the Qiongsanshayu 00209 even makes use of overseas satellite tv for pc expertise originating with corporations from the US, South Korea, and Japan, the 2018 environmental affect evaluation reveals.
The expertise features a KNS-Z12 satellite tv for pc antenna from KNS Inc., a South Korean firm; a POB-KUS100 upconverter from Wavestream, a U.S. firm; a NJR2836U low-noise block downconverter from Japan Radio Firm, a Japanese firm; and a CDD 562AL satellite tv for pc modem, a CDM 570A/L satellite tv for pc modem, a CDM 625A satellite tv for pc modem, and a CRS 170A change from Comtech EF Information, a U.S. firm.
Contracting data present that each Wavestream and Comtech EF Information are U.S. protection contractors, and the website of Comtech EF Information claims that the corporate has labored on quite a few applications for the shoppers just like the U.S. Navy, U.S. Military, U.S. Air Drive, and U.S. Marines.
Meaning satellite tv for pc communications expertise from U.S. protection contractors may be supporting the operations of Sansha Metropolis’s maritime militia within the South China Sea.
This isn’t the primary time China has obtained overseas expertise to be used in South China Sea. A latest report by RFA revealed that Sansha Metropolis has acquired over $930,000 of overseas {hardware}, tools, software program, and supplies. And in a separate investingation, this reporter found that Sansha’s native maritime legislation enforcement power can also be utilizing satellite tv for pc communications expertise from a U.S. protection contractor.
Pretend fishermen
RFA additionally uncovered clear proof of overlap between the fishermen dwelling on islands and reefs occupied by China and the maritime militia personnel charged with guarding these options.
RFA in contrast Chinese language state media reporting on Sansha’s maritime militia to the company data related to 106 small-scale “aquatic product and fishing companies” registered in Sansha in addition to a number of fishing cooperatives registered within the metropolis.
In whole, RFA discovered 13 members of Sansha Metropolis’s maritime militia who seem to run “aquatic product and fishing companies” or are listed as workers for one of many metropolis’s fishing cooperatives. 9 of those militiamen are related to each an “aquatic product and fishing enterprise” and a fishing cooperative.
These people embrace 10 militiamen of unspecific rank, one militia squad chief, one militia platoon sergeant, and one militia firm commander, every situated on certainly one of 5 options within the Paracel Islands, specifically Woody Island, Yagong Island, Robert Island, Commentary Financial institution, and Tree Island, based on Chinese language state media.
Of the “aquatic product and fishing companies” run by militiamen, all are registered to addresses in residential areas utilized by Chinese language fishermen on Woody Island, Yagong Island, Robert Island, Commentary Financial institution, and Tree Island.
The registered handle of every small-scale fishing firm aligns with the reported location of its related militiaman, such because the “aquatic product and fishing enterprise” registered to Robert Island by Chen Daming, who Xinhua Information describes as a Robert Island-based militiaman.
These militiamen are seemingly fishermen who obtained navy coaching.
In a proposal revealed in 2014, Sansha Metropolis’s delegation to the Hainan Province Folks’s Congress admitted that the town was coaching fishermen to protect the islands and reefs inside the metropolis’s jurisdiction. The proposal additional defined that “no matter whether or not they’re fishermen working in distant seas or fishermen engaged in aquaculture or different actions, they will all turn into well-trained militiamen and obtain corresponding subsidies.”
China Protection Information described one of many militiamen that RFA recognized, Xu Mingwen, as an “previous fisherman” now working radar and video surveillance tools in Tree Island’s militia put up. In keeping with a report by PLA Every day, this put up feeds intelligence again to a PLA command middle on Woody Island.
Equally, a 2016 article from China Youth Every day implies {that a} militiaman verified by RFA, Ye Jun, was a fisherman who obtained militia coaching on Yagong Island from the Sansha Garrison, which included boat piloting, engine restore, communications, and wound remedy.
From their postings on the entrance traces of the South China Sea, these 13 fishermen-turned-militiamen seem to have performed an lively position in defending China’s claims.
One other militiaman that RFA recognized, Woody Island-based Lu Le, was interviewed in 2013 by China Nationwide Radio. He stated that whereas navigating the waters of the Paracel Islands in April 2013, he noticed a overseas fishing boat “illegally coming into” China’s “territorial waters.” Lu proceeded to report the overseas vessel to the Sansha Garrison, which then mobilized close by maritime legislation enforcement ships to chase it away — a transparent instance of Sansha Metropolis’s “navy, legislation enforcement, and civilian joint protection” system in motion.
And Xinhua Information reports that Yagong Island-based Xu Dezhi, one more militiaman recognized by RFA, was injured in August 2014 whereas boarding a overseas fishing boat. In keeping with Xinhua, Xu was out fishing when he found the overseas vessel. He proceeded to board the fishing boat and lower his wrist through the ensuing battle with the boat’s crew.
RFA additionally tracked down Commentary Financial institution Militia Firm Commander Li Linjun, who obtained a gash to the proper arm from a harpoon throughout a hand-to-hand scuffle after chasing and boarding a overseas fishing boat in July 2015, China Youth Every day reported.
It’s no marvel that Sansha Metropolis’s social gathering secretary and mayor, Xiao Jie, as soon as described the town’s maritime militia as a part of a “Nice Wall of Metal” within the South China Sea.
