The expansion is to ensure that the United States remains the “maritime partner of choice” in the region, said the White House National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien in a statement.
“The USCG is strategically home-porting significantly enhanced Fast Response Cutters, built in a proven Louisiana-based shipyard, in the western Pacific,” said O’Brien. “The new generation of Fast Response Cutters will conduct maritime security missions, such as fisheries patrols, enhance maritime domain awareness and enforcement efforts in collaboration with regional partners who have limited offshore surveillance and enforcement capacity, and ensure freedom of navigation.”
Under consideration for 2021 is the possibility of basing a Coast Guard cutter in American Samoa. The USCG has already home-ported one of its new generation of cutters in Guam.
O’Brien said the United States promotes a free and open Indo-Pacific region “where likeminded nations uphold the international rules-based order.”
The US Coast Guard’s Joseph Napier cutter. The Coast Guard is ramping up its presence in the western Pacific as a counter to China says the White House. U.S. Coast Guard photo
The ramping up of USCG activity in the region is a direct response to the PRC, he said. “The People’s Republic of China’s illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, and harassment of vessels operating in the exclusive economic zones of other countries in the Indo-Pacific, threatens our sovereignty, as well as the sovereignty of our Pacific neighbors and endangers regional stability,” he said. “Efforts of the United States Government, including the United States Coast Guard…are critical to countering these destabilizing and malign actions.”
O’Brien said the Coast Guard is modernizing and improving its fleet of cutters, which are essential to “protecting our vital national interests, and where appropriate, those of our partners in the region.”
O’Brien said that if the feasibility survey for basing a USCG cutter in American Samoa is favorable, the United States could further expand its presence in the South Pacific.
“Enhancing the presence of the USCG in the Indo-Pacific ensures the United States will remain the maritime partner of choice in the region,” he said.
