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IMDEX Asia: China develops coast guard into major force

14th May 2015 - 12:00 GMT | by Gordon Arthur in Hong Kong

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Beijing’s recent merging of four organisations into the China Coast Guard has raised questions whether the new agency is being used as an instrument of maritime security or instead for gunboat diplomacy.

Tensions between China and its neighbours bounding the East China Sea and South China Sea have been making headlines in recent years, and the country’s white-hulled maritime force is undergoing a period of significant expansion.

China historically had five civil maritime agencies, referred to as the ‘five dragons contending for the sea’. Legislation passed in March 2013 pledged to integrate four of these departments, with varied structures

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