NIDS Commentary No. 53

China’s Advance into the Sea and the Maritime Militia Masaaki Yatsuzuka, Regional Studies Department No. 53 July 15, 2016

China’s Aggressive Advance into the Sea armed organization that is not divorced from production under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, an integral part of the armed China is currently proceeding with active forces of the People's Republic of China, and an maritime expansion backed by its economic and assistant and reserve force of the Chinese People's military power. The Chinese government is Liberation Army.” (Article 2).In addition, Article 5 attempting to strengthen effective control while states “Under the leadership of the State Council repeating low intensity threats that do not lead to and the Central Military Commission, militia work military escalation. These Chinese actions are is supervised by the General Staff Department of called "the salami-slicing strategy" and "creeping the Chinese People's Liberation Army (Note: the expansion", etc., causing friction with neighboring Defense Mobilization Department since military countries. reform)”, “the Provincial military district, the In this China maritime policy, what is military district, and the provincial people's armed heightening its presence is the Chinese maritime department (A government agency in charge of the militia. Xi Jinping in April 2013, immediately after mobilization of militias placed at the sub-provincial assuming the highest position in the party, state and base-level of government) are military command military, visited the maritime militia in Tanmen, institutions in each area and are responsible for Hainan province. Three months later, in July, a new militia operations in that area. "Militia" reminds us maritime militia organization was formed in Sansha of a wide range of armed groups such as guerrillas, City, which has jurisdiction over the South China partisans, volunteers, private soldiers, and military Sea, and in recent years many conflicts have cliques, but as seen in the above provisions, the occurred in the disputed waters of the South China Chinese militia is an official armed organization Sea in which maritime militia organizations were that receives command orders from both the allegedly involved. While the presence of maritime government and the military as a subsidiary agency militia is increasing, the structure and operation of of the People's Liberation Army. the organization still remains enigmatic. In addition, a party organization has been In this paper, I will try to examine what roles established inside the maritime militia, to relay the maritime militia organizations play in China's wishes of the Chinese Communist Party. For maritime policy, what problems might arise, and example, in Wenzhou Yueqing City, a senior what political measure is required through an official of the city's health department, who is a analysis of the relationship between maritime member of the Chinese Communist Party, is also militia organizational structure, law enforcement concurrently serving as a leader of a small group in agencies and military institutions. the maritime militia emergency relief division of the

area, and four CCP members belong to the party A Complexly Structured Maritime Militia small group. This is probably because the Communist Party and government officials, by

What kind of organization is the marine militia? taking the leadership of the maritime militia, are The first thing which should be confirmed is a chain tasked with the transfer of the orders from the party, of command system. To the extent that it is an military, coast guard and other law enforcement organization, not merely a fishermen's get-together, agencies to the rank and file of the fishermen there should be a chain of command system. through the party organization. That is to say, the According to China’s “Regulations on Militia maritime militia is institution with party Work”, it is stipulated that “The militia is a mass organization which not only receives commands NIDS Commentary N0. 53 and orders from both the military and the and information gathering on foreign science government but also communicate them internally. research ships, reconnaissance ships and fishing Furthermore, in order to systematically provide boats of other countries guidance to each fishing boat, there are multiple (3) Own maritime interest protection activities: command systems by function. The maritime (g) Daily fishing activities, surveillance activities militia has function-specific divisions such as a and information gathering on suspicious ships in reconnaissance division, an emergency relief disputed waters, (h) Maritime interest protection division, a maritime support division, etc., and duty in wartime respective roles are allocated to them. Also, some military officials propose to establish multi-layered As a feature of the above, what we can point out units in each organization such as Division (营) → first is that diversified cooperative duties with both Company (连) → Platoon (排) → Squad (班) (An the government and the military can be assumed. upper echelon unit consists of 3 to 5 lower echelon However, in actual operations, the chain of units. A squad is one ship). command and cooperation become much more In addition, many Chinese fishermen who complex because varied agencies join the activities. participate in the maritime militia are employed by For example, another military official proposes fishery related corporations (including fishing, food how the maritime militia should cooperate with the processing, ship building and port construction). other agencies in respective activities as follows. Therefore, it is likely that these corporations manage fishermen by recruiting, mobilizing and When the maritime militia: providing fishing boat equipment and compensation. Because of this kind of complex (1) independently carries out maritime organizational structure, the maritime militia information investigation and reconnaissance organization is not just a gathering of fishermen, but alerts, a provincial military district is in charge. is made up of human resources of various (2) joins emergency relief efforts, a maritime backgrounds including fishery food processers, search organization (this seems to be the China shipbuilders, port construction workers, and even Coast Guard) or a local government leads and a more medical personnel, local government and the provincial military district system also takes part. CCP officials. (3) carries out maritime interest protection Given this situation, it can be said that the activities, a provincial military district system maritime militia usually engages in fishery related systematically is in charge in cooperation with industries, but also, as needed, is a paramilitary local relevant departments under the guidance of a organization involved in various activities local party committee and government. safeguarding Chinese maritime interests while (4) cooperates with maritime law enforcement, systematically receiving orders from the military the Coast Guard department is in charge and the and the government. provincial military district cooperates under the unified guidance of a local party committee and Maritime Militia Tasked with Various Roles government, (5) assists naval activities, it is under the unified Then, what roles is the maritime militia tasked command of the navy with the cooperation of the with? In recent years, People’s Liberation Army provincial military district system. officials have made various proposals concerning the organization of the maritime militia. It is hard Of course, maritime militia is still in the process to believe that the maritime militia is operated just of institutionalization. Therefore, the as they proposed, but at least we can infer roles that organizational structures and cooperation systems the organization may play. are likely to have various forms by each region, Certain military officials propose the following and we should not expect that they will assume three major roles regarding the activities of the roles exactly as expected. On the other hand, it is maritime militia necessary to remark on the fact that local government and military agencies actively carry (1) Support for the People’s Liberation Army: out various capability assistance in order for (a) Participation in intelligence operations maritime militia to take responsibility for such including diversionary operation, (b) duties and its ability is steadily increasing. The Transportation of military supplies, (c) Medical Chinese Government has already provided more and equipment support for the military, (d) than 40,000 Chinese fishing vessels with Beidou Cooperation with defense operations Satellite Positioning System and also Hainan (2) Cooperation with law enforcement agencies: province and Sansha city have set up maritime (e) Maritime interest protection activities through militia military outposts on the islands in South fishing operation in disputed waters, (f) Sabotage China Sea, which are examples of enhancing NIDS Commentary No. 53 information sharing system between the maritime On the other hand, we have to point out the issue militia, law enhancement agencies such as the of the systematization of the maritime militia. Coast Guard and the Navy. According to the investigation publicized in 2015, Furthermore, local governments attempt to 46% of the maritime militia members were only expand their presence in the open sea by after a political position that come with the status compensating maritime militia for the expenses of of militia, but neither understood their duties and vessel repair, fuel and even moving to remote missions as maritime militia, nor fulfilled them. islands. For example, according to the Hong Kong That is to say, with regard to the behavior of the newspaper, “The Hong Kong Economic Journal”, maritime militia, it is not fair to understand that Sansha city, Hainan province decided to invest 280 they are all performed under orders from the million yuan to support fishermen to live in an government or the military. In this way, it can be island and do business, where people who live in said that the degree of command and organization the Paracel islands for no less than 180 days are is loose while they have a flexible command order paid 35 – 45 yuan/ day for a “residence allowance”, system enhancing cooperation with law and people who live in the Spratly islands are paid enhancement agencies in peacetime and with the 80 yuan/ day after completing 150 days or more. military agencies in wartime. Considering that the average wage per day of a The second issue is the legal status of the person engaging in agriculture, forestry, stock maritime militia. When Xi Jinping paid a visit to farming or fishery who works in urban private the maritime militia in Tanmen, Hainan province, enterprises is about 80 yuan in 2015 (calculated it was reported that he described them as “people based on estimates by the China National Bureau and also soldiers”. Utilizing such a special status of Statistics), this kind of residence allowance and overwhelming equipment, the maritime militia would be a certain incentive as extra income for a can intimidate fishermen of other counties and fisherman. shrink their fishing operation. In this sense, a As for relations with the Navy, various drills and fishing vessel which belongs to the maritime exercises such as rescue, reconnaissance, logistical militia cannot be treated the same as a general support including live-ammunition exercises fishing boat. However, a problem is how they regularly take place to enhance the command order should be differentiated. Under international law, system for the maritime militia mainly in the off when someone performs as a militia, it is required season for fishing. to distinguish the militia from civilians. That would be the equivalent of the Chinese militia Problems Related to the Operation of carrying out its duty wearing a military uniform with a mark “MB” which shows “militia soldier the Maritime Militia (MinBing)”. But what do “activities as maritime The presence of the maritime militia seems to militia” refer to? (For instance, are fishing continue to increase with the above mentioned operations in disputed waters regarded as a duty of human resource, equipment, funds and training the militia?). In addition, when the maritime provided by the government and the military. militia hides among general fishing boats, how However, it is necessary to pay attention to issues should they be distinguished instantly from accompanying the operation of maritime militia. outside? In this way, many issues remain First is the degree of the command order system ambiguous in the legal status of maritime militia. and organization of the maritime militia. It is Third is the military escalation issue which the apparent that the Chinese government is maritime militia gives rise to. The maritime militia attempting to enhance its effective control by will take responsibility for Chinese maritime supporting fishing boat operations in disputed interest protection activity in active areas where it waters and strengthening systematic management. is difficult for law enforcement agencies and Actually, the China Coast Guard or Chinese naval military to coordinate with each other, namely the vessels reportedly often on standby behind “gray zone” corresponding to the space between Chinese fishing boats operating on the waters in peacetime and wartime. What is a problem in this the vicinity of the Scarborough Reef where China case is that China may control the crisis escalation. has a dispute with Philippine and the Natuna Though the Chinese government basically does Islands in Indonesia. The problem here is that, not want a military conflict, it is highly likely that because the agency from which the maritime they believe they can control the escalation of militia receives orders varies according to situation, crisis through mobilizing the maritime militia, a miscalculation in its response may result in constrain opponents, avoid a military conflict and unintentional tension. It can be pointed out as a expand the effective control by China. For trend that a primary role in peacetime is to example, in the “Impeccable Case” in 2009 and the cooperate with the Coast Guard or local “Freedom of Navigation Operation” in 2015, it governments but the greater the intensity of a crisis, was reported that the operations of the U.S. Navy the stronger the command from the Navy will be. NIDS Commentary N0. 53 were interfered with not by the Chinese Navy but whether the ships of the maritime militia should be Chinese fishing boats nearby. This can be regarded as “warships” remains unclear. This legal understood as a case in which China mobilized the ambiguity gives room for arbitrary operation of maritime militia to avoid a military conflict while maritime militia on the Chinese side. To cope with interfering and containing the U.S. Navy’s this, demands should be made to require the movement. In addition, if, hypothetically, a small maritime militia’s transparency and contain nation rather than the U.S. is the opponent, China arbitrary operation through the confirmation of the will make extreme provocations and lure the legal status of the maritime militia (about the duty opponent’s military to military escalation to justify of the maritime militia, separation from general their military actions, which will result in fishing boats, crewmembers and command order heightening military tension under China’s system, whether a maritime militia vessel is a hegemony. Indeed, in the case of so called “Battle warship or not) on working–level talks on crisis of the Paracel Islands” when China took and management mechanism between Japan and China occupied the Paracel Islands from Vietnam in as well as calling out international attention to the January, 1974 which had been effectively activities of the maritime militia through talks with controlled by Vietnam until then, it is said that the South-East Asian countries and the U.S., etc. before hostilities, in addition to repeated Second is the capability enhancement of law provocative actions in the waters nearby, Chinese enforcement agencies in order to plug the gray fishing vessels suspected of being maritime militia zone gap where the maritime militia is active. As had important duties in wartime such as noted above, the Chinese side has the potential to participation in early warning, intelligence dominate military escalation through the operation operations and support of landing operation by the of the maritime militia. To deal with this, the idea army. The maritime militia can therefore burden of escalation control is required. Though the the countermeasure decisions of other nations and maritime militia receive command orders from the delay prompt response through such activities as Navy, it is unthinkable for them to play a high level zigzagging through the gaps between these peace military mission. Therefore, the Self Defense times and emergencies. Force (SDF) should not be dispatched, which might cause military escalation, but the Japan Required Political Measures Coast Guard (JCG) should exercise police authority to cope with the maritime militia. With the above issues in mind, what political However, the maritime militia have a wide range measures are possible against the activities of the of activities and equipment to overwhelm general maritime militia? Taking into consideration that fishing boats. Because of this, what should be these issues result from the opacity and the legal actively studied are measures to improve police ambiguity of the maritime militia, it will be authority including further reinforcement of patrol necessary to force China to get rid of this opacity equipment capability and the expansion of the and establish an environment where the maritime legal right to use arms, etc. Additionally, the militia’s activities are difficult. enhancement of information sharing and communication systems between the Japan First, through communication with the Maritime SDF (JMSDF) and the JCG may also be international society including China, the legal considered in order for the JCG to take prompt status of the maritime militia should be clarified to measures even if there is a provocation from a control arbitrary operation. The legal ambiguity of fishing vessel that appears to be maritime militia the maritime militia is caused by a mismatch toward a JMSDF vessel. From the same point of between international law and Chinese law in view, in the South China Sea where the maritime some cases. For example, Article 29 of the United militia are active, it would be effective to provide Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea states the South-East Asian countries with patrol ships “ "warship" means a ship belonging to the armed and capacity building support through joint forces of a State bearing the external marks exercises. distinguishing such ships of its nationality, under the command of an officer duly commissioned by the government of the State and whose name (Completed on July 11, 2016) appears in the appropriate service list or its equivalent, and manned by a crew which is under regular armed forces discipline.” However, from ＜References＞ the perspective of command and crewmembers, ・ Andrew S. Erickson & Conor M. Kennedy, “China’s Maritime Militia,” CNA Corporation, 7th March, 2016, pp.1-28.

NIDS Commentary No. 53 ・ Andrew S. Erickson & Conor M. ・「2015 年各行业年平均工资出炉来看你达 Kennedy, “China’s Maritime Militia What It Is 标了吗？」『中国新闻网』（2016 年 5 月 14 日 and How to Deal With It,” Foreign Affairs, June 付）。 23, 2016. ・「北斗系统发言人：现在渔民出海就放 ・James Kraska & Michael Monti, “The Law of Naval Warfare and China’s Maritime 妈祖和北斗两样」『新华网』（2016 年 6 月 Militia, ”International Law Studies (Vol. 91, 16 日付）。 2015), pp.450-467. ・ Ken Jimbo “Security Legislation: Can a ・“Fishing in Troubled Waters,” South China seamless security system be realized?” (The Canon Morning Post, 29th, July, 2014. Institute for Global Studies) ・何志祥「适应海防安全形势 坚强海上民兵 ・ Katsuya Yamamoto “China seen by the Defense Officer (No. 13) – The maritime militia 组织」『国防』（2015 年第 1 期）、48-50 頁。 and Chinese fishermen - ” (Website of JMSDF ・王治平・汪勇健「民兵参加海上维权斗争 Command and Staff College) 的几点思考」『国防』（2013 年第 6 期）、 54-55 頁。

・徐海峰「适应新形势 全面规范海上民兵建 设」『国防』（2014 年第 2 期）、65-66 頁。 ・杨建波「紧贴南海权益斗争实际 做好海上

民兵政治工作」『政工学刊』（2015 年 3 月） 44-45 頁。 ・周洪福「适应海洋强国要求 加强海上民兵

建设」『国防』（2015 年第 6 期）47-48 頁。

・“China Military” (Dated November 30, 2015)

・“The Hong Kong Economic Journal” (Dated August 9/10, 2014), (Dated July 31, 2015)

Please note that the views in this column do not represent the official opinion of NIDS. Please contact us at the following regarding any questions, Masaaki Yatsuzuka comments or requests you may have. Research Fellow, Regional Studies Department Planning and Coordination Office, Area of Expertise The National Institute for Defense Studies China Studies, International Relations in East Asia, International Telephone: 03-3713-5912 Fax: 03-3713-6149 Security Studies Website: http://www.nids.go.jp