By Rosalind Mathieson

(Bloomberg) — China’s elevated reliance on non-naval ships to say its claims within the South China Sea is complicating U.S. efforts to keep away from a conflict within the disputed waters, based on seventh Fleet commander Vice Admiral Joseph Aucoin.

While the U.S. and Chinese navies are working extra carefully below an agreed code for unplanned encounters at sea, the deployment of coast guard and different non-naval vessels within the space is “a concern of mine,” Aucoin instructed reporters on Monday in Singapore. He plans to take the USS Blue Ridge, the command ship of the seventh Fleet, to China later in the summertime.

“We have all types of senior level engagements with the Chinese PLAN, that we meet pretty routinely,” Aucoin stated, referring to China’s navy. He stated he had a “greater fear” about different actors, “whether it’s coast guard or what we refer to as white shipping or cabbage ships, not sure about their professionalism.”

Aucoin’s feedback come forward of a two-day summit in California between President Barack Obama and leaders from Southeast Asian nations, because the U.S. seeks to construct a unified strategy to China’s rising army clout. Southeast Asian nations typically welcome China’s funding and financial muscle, whilst some have expressed concern about its increasing naval attain.

U.S. Warship

China claims greater than 80 p.c of the South China Sea, placing it at odds with fellow claimants together with Vietnam and the Philippines in a physique of water that yearly hosts $5 trillion in transport. In the previous two years, China has reclaimed greater than 3,000 acres within the sea and is constructing army services there. It has additionally made higher use of fishing and maritime surveillance boats to warn off different vessels within the space, blurring the strains between its navy and coast guard.

Last month the U.S. despatched a warship into waters contested by China, Vietnam and Taiwan to problem the “excessive” maritime claims of all three. It was the second time in lower than six months the U.S. has challenged China with a freedom-of- navigation voyage. During the primary operation by the USS Lassen, the place it handed inside 12 nautical miles of Subi Reef within the Spratly island chain, it was shadowed and warned by Chinese boats together with non-naval vessels.

“During the Lassen one it was apparent that they were being controlled, that they weren’t operating independently, and that is something that is in our calculus now,” Aucoin stated of the Chinese boats. “How do we approach that when it is not gray hull versus another gray hull, it’s other types of ships. I think we’ll see more of that in the future.”

‘More Involved’

Navy commander Admiral Wu Shengli stated in January that China had no plans to militarize the South China Sea. Still, the nation would “never be defenseless,” Wu stated. The diploma of defensive services depends upon how a lot China is below risk, he stated.

The U.S.’s seventh Fleet has patrolled Asia’s waters since World War II. Its protection space extends from Japan to India.

Aucoin stated there have been no formal talks to convey coast guards below the code for unplanned encounters at sea. “I know I am asking our coast guard to become more involved, to help us with these types of operations because it’s not simply gray hulls anymore,” he stated. “I think having a code of conduct that would cover them would be a good thing.”

China has practically completed an enormous coast guard ship and can in all probability deploy it armed with machine weapons and shells within the South China Sea, the Global Times reported in January, dubbing the vessel “The Beast.” China Coast Guard vessel 3901, with a 12,000-ton displacement, will carry 76 millimeter speedy fireplace weapons, two auxiliary weapons and two anti-aircraft machine weapons, the paper reported.

‘Operate Wherever’

China’s so-called white-hulled fleet beforehand concerned ships armed at most with water canon and sirens. The ship now below building is bigger than a number of the U.S. naval vessels that patrol the world.

It would be the second of China’s mega-cutters, that are the biggest coast guard vessels on the earth, based on the Global Times. An analogous boat entered service final 12 months within the East China Sea, the place China is individually concerned in a territorial dispute with Japan.

The nation additionally stated in January it had efficiently accomplished take a look at flights of civilian plane to a brand new airfield on Fiery Cross Reef, drawing protests from nations together with Vietnam. Aucoin stated flying fighter plane out of the world would have a destabilizing impact and will immediate a U.S. response.

“They do have an operational airfield but I don’t know when they will start flying fighter-type aircraft out of there,” Aucoin stated. “We will fly, sail and operate wherever international law permits, and that includes flying over that airspace,” he stated. “We’re not being provocative here.”

–With help from David Tweed.

©2016 Bloomberg News