China Coast Guard

The China Coast Guard (Simplified Chinese: 中国海警) serves as a coordinating body for maritime search and rescue in the territorial waters of the People's Republic of China. The China Coast Guard is the maritime branch of the Public Security Border Troops, a paramilitary police force under the leadership of the Ministry of Public Security (MPS).

Function
The CCG is known to perform mostly coastal and ocean search and rescue or patrols.

Equipment
The CCG has received quite a few large patrol ships that would significantly enhance their operations. Hai Guang, militia, police and other services operate hundreds of small patrol craft. For maritime patrol services, these craft are usually quite well armed with machine guns and 37mm AA guns. In addition, these services operate their own small aviation units to assist their maritime patrol capabilities. CCG operates a handful of Harbin Z-9 helicopters, and a maritime patrol aircraft based on the Harbin Y-12 STOL transport.

Roles
Roles of the CCG are diverse but include:
 * Patrol of territorial waters and disputed territories
 * Anti-smuggling, anti-piracy
 * Maritime policing and ship inspections
 * Harbour and coastal security
 * Research and survey
 * Search and Rescue
 * Fisheries protection

Command
Unlike US or Japan, the Chinese Coast Guard is not under an independent command. Instead, they are part of the armed police, under the local (provincial) border defense force command. The largest operational unit of the CCG is a CCG flotilla, which is a regimental-level unit in China’s military administrative hierarchy. Every coastal province has 1 to 3 Coast Guard flotillas. Currently there are twenty CCG flotillas across the country.:


 * Fujian
 * 1st Flotilla - Fuzhou
 * 2nd Flotilla - Quanzhou
 * 3rd Flotilla - Xiamen
 * Guangdong
 * 1st Flotilla - Guangzhou
 * 2nd Flotilla - Shantou
 * 3rd Flotilla - Zhanjiang
 * Guangxi
 * 1st Flotilla - Beihai
 * 2nd Flotilla - Fangchenggang
 * Hainan
 * 1st Flotilla - Haikou
 * 2nd Flotilla - Sanya
 * Hebei with 1 Flotilla - Qinhuangdao
 * Jiangsu with 1 Flotilla - Taicang
 * Liaoning
 * 1st Flotilla - Dalian
 * 2nd Flotilla - Dandong
 * Shandong
 * 1st Flotilla - Weihai
 * 2nd Flotilla - Qingdao
 * Shanghai with 1 Flotilla - Shanghai
 * Tianjin with 1 Flotilla - Tianjin
 * Zhejiang
 * 1st Flotilla - Taizhou
 * 2nd Flotilla - Ningbo

Ships
Typical Coast Guard ships include the 130 ton Type 218 patrol boat, armed with twin 14.5mm machine guns, assorted speedboats, and few larger patrol ships. Up until very recently, the largest ship in Chinese Coast Guard service was the 1,500 ton Haixun-class Cutter (#1001).

In March 2007, it was reported that the PLAN has transferred 2 Jianghu FFG's (#509 & #510) to the Coast Guard and re-numbered 1002 & 1003. These 2 ships now represent the largest vessels in the Coast Guard inventory.

Training
The Chinese Coast Guard conducts periodic joint-training sessions with other navies, including the US Coast Guard service. The Chinese Coast Guard also participates in the annual North Pacific Coast Guard Agencies Forum in Alaska, along with US, Canadian, Japanese, S. Korean, and Russian Coast Guards. As part of an exchange program, members of the Chinese Coast Guard service have been assigned to serve on U.S. Coast Guard cutters.