China’s new maritime goliath poised to patrol disputed seas

China is upping its game in the South China Sea with a formidable new coastguard vessel poised to assert its wide-ranging territorial claims.

This month, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported that China is advancing its maritime capabilities with the construction of a new coastguard vessel modeled after a sophisticated destroyer outfitted with state-of-the-art surveillance technology.

SCMP says that the vessel, spotted at Shanghai’s Jiangnan Shipyard, is intended for deployment in the contentious East and South China Seas, particularly in areas disputed with the Philippines. The report notes the new ship’s development comes amid China’s rising territorial disputes in these regions.

SCMP says that the ship, based on the Type 052D guided-missile destroyer, has been modified for coastguard duties, seen in the removal of the vertical launch system and installation of a 76mm main gun. It notes that the ship, equipped with Type 382 air search radars, boasts enhanced air surveillance capabilities.

The same report says that China’s new coastguard vessel, with a displacement range of 6,000 to 7,000 tons, fills a strategic gap and is comparable to Japan’s larger coastguard vessels. It notes that the ship has an operational range of over 6,000 nautical miles, allowing extended patrols in the South China Sea without frequent resupply.

The massive new vessel may be a follow-on design of its Zhaotou-class maritime law enforcement (MLE) vessels.

In a 2019 Naval War College Review article, Andrew Erickson and other writers mention that the class is the world’s largest ship of its type.

Erickson and others note that these colossal cutters, each exceeding ten thousand tons and measuring 165 meters in length, are a testament to