【Military Subplane】Author: Lele
On the 6th of this month, the 11th District of the Japan Coast Guard, which focuses on Okinawa and the East China Sea, announced that two small Japanese fishing boats were driven away by the Chinese coast guard fleet in the waters off the Diaoyu Islands, and this is just a very common case in the past few years. According to the Japan Coast Guard's statistics for 2023, 28 Japanese ships were driven away throughout the year, with the largest number of small fishing boats with intelligence-gathering colors. In other words, contrary to many people's impressions, the situation in the waters near the Diaoyu Islands has completely changed.
▲ Chinese coast guard ships are very stable in cruising on the Diaoyu Islands
At the beginning of 2024, the China Coast Guard mentioned a total of 352 days of patrols in the waters off the Diaoyu Islands in 2023, the highest since 2012. Japan's Kyodo News Agency wrote in December that "the Chinese coast guard has made plans to ensure that the waters near the Diaoyu Islands will patrol every day in 2024, and if necessary, it will board Japanese fishing boats for inspection." The real situation now is that with the improvement of the coast guard system and the improvement of the number/quality of vessels, the mechanism for patrolling the waters around the Diaoyu Islands has indeed become very stable. Under normal circumstances, the first and second detachments under the General Administration of the Coast Guard alone dispatched four coast guard vessels to form two formations near and far around the island, respectively patrolling the territorial waters/contiguous zone of the Diaoyu Islands to monitor the movement of ships in the surrounding waters. Due to the wind and waves in this sea area, the coast guard ships are mainly 3,000 tons, supplemented by 1,000/2,000 tons, and large ships of 5,000 tons can occasionally be seen.
▲The significance of the 5,000-ton coast guard ship is self-evident
Taking 2023 as an example, about half of the coast guard ships cruising around the island come from the first detachment, with the largest tonnage being the 4,000-ton "1401" and the 3,000-ton "1301-1305" flying frequency. The second detachment often dispatched two 5,000-ton coast guard ships, "2501" and "2502", but the 3,000-ton ships were few. The reason why ships are dispatched to patrol every day of the year is a goal that takes many years of hard work, that is, because of the tonnage of the ships. At the beginning of October last year, the Haijing ship "2502" relied on a full load displacement of more than 6,000 tons (the tonnage in the coast guard number is the standard displacement) to resist Typhoon "Little Dog" and insisted on cruising in the waters of the Diaoyu Islands, while other coast guard ships had to return to port for shelter. In other words, only if the number of large-tonnage coast guard ships is sufficient and they have rich experience in sea conditions/typhoons, can the goal of having no space throughout the year be achieved, and it is not that there is a gap in the formation endurance handover.
▲The 3,000-ton coast guard ship is undoubtedly the backbone
In special circumstances, such as when Japan tries to do something, the country will often send additional ships to intercept it. For example, in the "Nisei Maru" incident that occurred on January 30, 2023, a total of 34 Japanese government employees, university teams, and media reporters, took the "Nisei Maru" and tried to land on the island with the support of four small fishing boats. At that time, China had already made preparations, mobilizing two 5,000-ton ships, one 4,000-ton and three 3,000-ton coast guard ships, a total of two detachments around the island all year round, and successfully intercepted them. Rumors that "eight Japanese ships escorted the 'Shinsei Maru' to break through the blockade" after the incident were not true. In November 2023, Japan gathered two more groups of six fishing boats to build momentum, and it is very rare in China to assemble seven coast guard ships (including the largest tonnage of 3,000 tons) to intercept them.
▲A 1,000-ton coast guard ship equipped with a 76mm naval gun
How to say, after 12 years of tempering and sufficient resource support, the domestic coast guard force has a very sound island protection mechanism. In the face of tactics such as multiple ships attacking and harassing on the Japanese side, large ships penetrating the defense, etc., there are also countermeasures. Generally speaking, thanks to the tonnage and numerical advantages of the coast guard vessels, the waters near the Diaoyu Islands are basically domestically controlled. Japan's response has been to frequently dispatch small fishing boats to monitor and occasionally try to break through the blockade. In November 2022, the "2204" coast guard ship carried 76mm naval guns to patrol the waters of the Diaoyu Islands for the first time. Of course, the increasing number of coast guard ships cruising around the island and installing 76-mm naval guns is another matter.
▲The gold content of the Zhoushan ship has been greatly improved
In general, the Diaoyu Islands have ceased to be the focus of public opinion in recent years, not because the two sides have resolved their differences, but because Japan has been completely suppressed, and the crushing blockade is naturally unknown to the outside world. Just like the rise of domestic fighters, the Japanese F-15J is powerless to deal with it, so it can only abandon the original tracking tactics and change to focused surveillance. The Japan Coast Guard is powerless to compete with the massive leap forward in China's coast guard fleet, so it naturally has no choice but to retreat. This is not some fancy scheme, but a dignified suppression of strength, simple but very effective. Incidentally, the famous domestically produced 12,000-ton coast guard ship has not appeared in the waters of the Diaoyu Islands so far, because it is not needed. The naming rules of the coast guard ship itself are separate from the navy's warships, so the Zhoushan ship is only a 4,000-ton frigate in the navy, while in the coast guard fleet, the Zhoushan ship is a 12,000-ton top stream with the number "2901".