US Coast Guard searches Chinese fishing vessels during patrol in Pacific Ocean

The US Coast Guard and Kiribati police boarded two Chinese fishing boats during a patrol against illegal fishing in the Pacific Islands nation’s vast exclusive economic zone this month but found no issues aboard, a coast guard official said.

As a rivalry with China over security ties in the region heats up, the US is pushing for a larger role for its coast guard in assisting isolated Pacific Island governments in monitoring millions of kilometers of ocean - a rich tuna fishing ground. This action also increases surveillance.

According to media reports, Chinese police are present in Kiribati, with uniformed officers involved in community policing and a crime database program.

With only 115,000 citizens, the tiny country of Kiribati is seen as strategically significant because to its proximity to Hawaii and exclusive economic zone, which spans 3.5 million square kilometers (1.35 million square miles). A Japanese satellite tracking station is also located there.

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Although it hasn’t yet, Washington has announced intentions to establish an embassy in Kiribati in an effort to counter China.

For the first time in nearly ten years, Kiribati police officers were on patrol with the U.S. Coast Guard as “ship riders” from February 11 to 16, according to a U.S. Coast Guard Guam spokesperson.

After Kiribati moved its diplomatic relations from Taiwan to Beijing in 2019, China established a sizable embassy on the main island of Tarawa.

(With agency inputs)