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Associated Press

A US coastguard cutter on routine patrol in the Bering Sea came across several Chinese military ships in international waters but within the US exclusive economic zone, officials said.
The crew detected three vessels around 200km (124 miles) north of the Amchitka Pass in the Aleutian Islands, the coastguard said in a statement on Wednesday.
A short time later, a helicopter aircrew from Coastguard Air Station Kodiak spotted a fourth ship around 135km (84 miles) north of the Amukta Pass.
All four of the vessels were “transiting in international waters but still inside the US exclusive economic zone”, which extends 200 nautical miles (370km) from the US shoreline, the statement said.
“The Chinese naval presence operated in accordance with international rules and norms,” said Rear Admiral Megan Dean, Seventeenth Coast Guard District commander. “We met presence with presence to ensure there were no disruptions to US interests in the maritime environment around Alaska.”

US coastguard Cutter Kimball is a 127-metre (418-foot) ship based in Honolulu.
The coastguard did not respond to questions about how long the Chinese ships were in the exclusive economic zone but said the Kimball and an air crew monitored them until they transited south of the Aleutian Islands and into the North Pacific Ocean.
The sighting of the ships came a week after the Chinese navy began its annual joint patrol with the Russian navy in the Pacific Ocean. The US Naval Institute said the patrol is scaled down from previous years, including last August when more than 10 ships from China and Russia formed a flotilla off Alaska.
In September 2022, the Kimball spotted several ships from China and Russia in the Bering Sea. And in September 2021, coastguard cutters in the Bering Sea and North Pacific Ocean encountered Chinese ships about 80km (50 miles) off the Aleutian Islands.
“Our military needs to be ready for increasing Chinese, and joint Chinese and Russian military activity near Alaska’s coast,” US Senator Dan Sullivan, an Alaska Republican, said in a statement after being briefed on the Chinese presence.
“I also met yesterday morning with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and specifically raised this issue – how America must be much more prepared for the increasing activity in the Arctic, and to also let Alaskans know that our military is on the job protecting our state and our country,” Sullivan said.
The US military routinely conducts what it calls freedom of navigation operations in disputed waters in Asia that China claims as its own, deploying Navy ships to sail through waterways such as the South China Sea. The US says freedom of navigation in the waters is in America’s national interest.


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US-China relations

US coastguard spots Chinese naval ships off Alaska island

The Chinese navy’s Shandong carrier task force is seen from the Japanese destroyer Akebono in the Philippine Sea on Tuesday. Four Chinese military ships were spotted in the Bering Sea off Alaska on Wednesday. Photo: Japan’s Joint Staff Office via AP

A crew member on the US Coastguard Cutter Kimball observes a foreign vessel in the Bering Sea in September 2022. Photo: US coastguard

Is Japan countering China in Diaoyu Islands by building its largest coastguard ship?

A Chinese ship sails near a Japanese ship off one of the disputed Diaoyu Islands. Photo: Kyodo via Reuters

A Japanese surveillance plane flies over the disputed islands, called the Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, in the East China Sea in 2011. Photo: AP

The Diaoyu Dao Museum of China, a Beijing-run website featuring the Japan-controlled, China-claimed Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea. The sign reads “Japan stole the Diaoyu Islands.” Photo” Kyodo

A Chinese maritime surveillance vessel passing near the Japanese-controlled Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, which Beijing refers to as Diaoyu Islands. Photo: Kyodo

Philippines’ use of Canadian system to track Chinese ship signals Ottawa’s interests

A Philippine supply boat moves around Chinese coastguard ships as they try to block its way near Second Thomas Shoal, locally known as Ayungin Shoal, in the South China Sea. Photo: AP

The Philippine region of El Nido. Photo: Robin Esrock

China coastguard personnel appearing to wield bladed weapons during a clash with Philippine ships off Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea. Photo: AFP

A Philippine soldier guards a US military hovercraft during an annual “Balikatan” bilateral military exercise on May 1 in San Vicente in the Philippine province of Palawan. Photo: Kyodo

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The Chinese and Russian navies will mount a joint patrol of the Pacific Rim. Photo: Xinhua

China rebukes Philippines, denies blocking medical evacuation from Second Thomas Shoal

China says it allowed the Philippines to evacuate an ill person from an  “illegally grounded warship”, the BRP Sierra Madre pictured, under “humanitarian considerations” and denies it blocked the medical transport. Photo: AP

China plucks suspected US Navy submarine detection probe from waters near South China Sea shoal

According a video posted by a state media affiliated website, the monitoring device was retrieved by the Chinese coastguard. Photo: Weibo

The device retrieved by the Chinese coastguard was dropped by what appeared to be a US Navy plane, according to the video. Photo: Weibo

A label on a device seen in the video indicated a company called Ultra Electronics. Photo: Weibo

US authorities have not commented on a video that apparently shows a navy plane air-dropped an object over the South China Sea. Photo: Weibo

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Diplomacy

The military vessels were in international waters but within the US exclusive economic zone, officials say


The military vessels were in international waters but within the US exclusive economic zone, officials say.
