Chinese Fisherman Wage Hybrid ‘People’s War’ Across Asia’s Seas

Asia Times
Todd Crowell and Andrew Salmon Sept 8, 2018

  It is a force that is massive in scale – but does not appear on an official order of battle. It is easy to locate – but difficult to combat. And it is highly deployable – but largely deniable.

Meet what is emerging as the third element of China’s maritime forces: a weaponized fishing armada.

While the world focuses on China’s expanding blue-water naval portfolio, such as its aircraft carriers, a fleet of less technically impressive, but more deployable vessels is making itself known. Seen in action off disputed maritime territories in the South China Sea, prominent in chaotic confrontations around the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands, and engaged in fatal clashes with South Korean coast guards in the Yellow Sea fishing grounds, the role that China’s fishing fleet plays in Asian maritime disputes is only gradually being recognized.

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