The U.S. Coast Guard encountered four People’s Republic of China military warships in the Bering Sea earlier this month.
The foreign vessels spotted July 6 and 7 were following international law, and told Coast Guard personnel they were practicing “freedom of navigation operations.”
Coast Guard spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Michael Salerno said encounters with groups of Chinese vessels have been an annual occurrence in the Bering Sea since 2021, and Chinese naval ships have been spotted in the area since 2017. He said he didn’t have information about encounters with Chinese vessels prior to that.
In 2021, the Coast Guard spotted four warships in the region. About a year later, the Coast Guard cutter Kimball stumbled upon Chinese and Russian military vessels traveling together near Kiska Island. Then in 2023, U.S. Navy warships were dispatched to the Aleutians, after 11 Chinese and Russian military vessels were found operating in the region.
The latest four ships were in international waters inside the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone, an area up to about 200 nautical miles offshore, where the U.S. has jurisdiction over natural resources.
The crew of the Kimball detected three of the latest ships 124 miles north of Amchitka Pass in the Aleutian Islands. Crew on an HC-130J airplane found another ship northeast of Atka Island.
None of the ships broke any international rules or norms. Still, the 418-foot Kimball contacted the Chinese vessels to ensure there were no disruptions to Alaska’s coastline or national interests. The Kimball continued monitoring the ships until they entered the North Pacific Ocean, south of the Aleutians.
