ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A U.S. Coast Guard cutter on routine patrol in the Bering Sea encountered several Chinese military ships in international waters but within the U.S. exclusive economic zone, officials said Wednesday.
The crew detected three vessels approximately 200 kilometers north of Amchitka Passage in the Aleutian Islands, the Coast Guard said in a statement. A short time later, a helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak spotted a fourth vessel approximately 84 miles (135 kilometers) north of Amukta Passage.
All four ships from the People’s Republic of China were “transiting international waters but still within the US Exclusive Economic Zone,” which extends 200 nautical miles (370 kilometers) off the US coast, the statement said.
“The Chinese naval presence operated in accordance with international rules and norms,” said Rear Admiral Megan Dean, commander of the Seventeenth Coast Guard District. “We met presence with presence to ensure there were no disruptions to U.S. interests in the maritime environment around Alaska.”
The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Kimball is a 418-foot (127-meter) vessel based in Honolulu.
This was not the first time Chinese ships had sailed near Alaskan waters. In September 2022, the Kimball spotted a Chinese guided missile cruiser in the Bering Sea. And in September 2021, Coast Guard boats in the Bering Sea and North Pacific Ocean encountered Chinese ships, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) from the Aleutian Islands.
The U.S. 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 navigate waterways like the South China Sea. The US says freedom of navigation in the waters is at risk America’s national interest.
