Warum machen sich mehr als tausend chinesische Fischerboote auf den Weg und versammeln sich in Formation im Ostchinesischen Meer – und bleiben dort viele Stunden lang in geraden Linien? Solche Aktivitäten chinesischer Fischerboote sind seit einiger Zeit öfter zu beobachten.

Wir sprachen darüber mit Jason Wang, Chief Operating Officer bei IngeniSPACE, einem internationalen Dienstleistungsunternehmen für Geospatial Intelligence, für "raumbezogene Aufklärung" über ungewöhnliche maritime Aktivitäten chinesischer Fischerboote im Ostchinesischen Meer Ende vergangenen Jahres, über Chinas maritime Miliz, Dual-use-Schiffe und irreguläre Kriegsführung der Volksbefreiungsarmee Chinas.

TRANSLATION: Why did a thousand Chinese fishing boats set out and gather in formation in the East China Sea and remain there for hours?

A #PRC Chinese Coast Guard vessel is maneuvering near #ScarboroughReef in the #SouthChina#Sea. Beijing's recent activities in the region are causing continued tensions.

According to AIS data, the research vessel Zhong Shan Da Xue sailed through the South China Sea from May to June 2025. However, Sun Yat-sen University declared that the vessel was active in the South China Sea in August 2025, which contradicts the AIS data. The announcement stated that Sun Yat-sen University had conducted sea-trials of Haiqin, a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) capable of operating at depths of up to 6,000 meters, and that Zhong Shan Da Xue had deployed the Haidou-1 autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) at the same time. This marked the first scientific survey conducted by coordinating two different unmanned vehicles via a single support ship¹⁴.

On this episode of #SeaControl, I host Jason Wang and Marvin Bernardo to discuss their report, “Everything Everywhere All At Once: The Growing Complexity of PLA #Amphibious Exercises,” published by the U.S. Naval War College’s China Maritime Studies Institute (#CMSI).

Dezember 2025, Januar und März 2026: Hunderte chinesische Fischerboote reihen sich in Linien im Ostchinesischen Meer auf. Vieles spricht dafür, dass sie dort nicht fischen. Wir machen uns auf die Suche: Was haben sie dort gemacht - und hatte Chinas geheimnisvolle Fischermiliz etwas damit zu tun? rabbit hole hilft dir, Desinformation und KI-Fakes in deinem Feed zu durchschauen. Damit du schneller erkennst, was stimmt und was nicht. Denn zwischen viralen Clips, halben Wahrheiten und KI-Fakes wird es immer schwieriger, den Überblick zu behalten. Genau da setzt rabbit hole an. Dreimal im Monat auf unserem Kanal. @tagesschau

December 2025, January and March 2026: Hundreds of Chinese fishing boats line up in the East China Sea. There is strong evidence suggesting they aren't actually fishing there. We set out to investigate: What were they doing there—and did China’s mysterious fishing militia play a role? Rabbit hole helps you see through disinformation and AI-generated fakes in your feed, enabling you to quickly distinguish fact from fiction. After all, amidst viral clips, half-truths, and AI fakes, it is becoming increasingly difficult to keep track of what’s real. That’s exactly where rabbit hole comes in. Catch it three times a month on our channel. @tagesschau

Masahiro Yumino, a former Foreign Ministry analyst specializing in Chinese militias, says China maintains a “national defense mobilization” system that broadly incorporates citizens and resources.

Yumino said local People’s Armed Forces Departments oversee the maritime militia.

The Chinese government reported 8 million militia personnel nationwide in 2011. They have been deployed for public security in urban and rural areas, as well as disaster relief.

Yumino estimates the maritime militia component alone holds 200,000 to 300,000 members.

Their missions include deployment to disputed areas while posing as ordinary fishing vessels, coordination with Chinese coast guard ships, and obstruction or intimidation of foreign vessels.

It is believed that maritime militia members are sometimes ordered to collide with other ships.

Jason Wang, chief operating officer of the U.S.-based geospatial intelligence firm ingeniSPACE, which identified the post-December 2025 “wall” activities, said the maritime militia conducts intelligence gathering and patrols, serving as the “eyes and ears” of the Chinese military.

The “walls” of thousands of fishing vessels could block commercial shipping and effectively close sea lanes, he said.

“Activities of the Chinese maritime militia target not just Taiwan but also commercial shipping to Japan and South Korea,” Wang said.

These forces are trained for maritime interdiction and armed conflict scenarios, and could disrupt routes used by oil, LNG tankers and container ships.

For over a decade, the Chinese Communist Party has deployed “fishing fleets” and coast guard vessels as tools of coercion, blurring the line between civilian and military activity to expand its control across the Indo-Pacific. In the East China Sea, more than 600 Chinese vessels formed coordinated lines for hours at a time. In the Yellow Sea, China installed large aquaculture cages and a network of surveillance buoys in contested waters with South Korea. And in the South China Sea, China has surged coast guard patrols around Scarborough Shoal while constructing new artificial outposts at reefs near Vietnam complete with jetties, helipads, and potential runways. This is not routine commerce, it's gray zone warfare designed to intimidate U.S. allies, restrict access to international waters, and normalize China’s unlawful territorial claims. The U.S. and its partners must respond with urgency, strengthening maritime domain awareness, supporting frontline allies, and defending freedom of navigation.

The geospatial firm ingeniSPACE first noticed the phenomenon, as 2,000 Chinese vessels created this formation from Dec. 25-27 in waters northeast of Taiwan.

This coordinated activity occurred just three days before China announced a major exercise circumscribing Taiwan. Dubbed Justice Mission-2025, the PLA exercise was designed to browbeat Taiwan and rehearse the implementation of a naval blockade.

Something similar took place from Jan. 9-12, when some 1,400 Chinese fishing boats formed a 200-mile-long “barrier” for more than 30 hours, according to automatic identification system data.

Surveying the Front Line of a Potential Conflict

Last February, a Chinese research ship named the Da Yang Hao sailed along Taiwan’s east coast, tracing a series of parallel lines over five days.

In the months that followed, five other Chinese research ships, including the Xiang Yang Hong 6, returned to the area, following similar routes. They often moved at slow speeds, typically 8 to 10 miles an hour, ideal for mapping undersea features using sonar and other techniques, a science known as bathymetry.