China Maritime Militia Tied to Taiwan Undersea Cable Damage in Suspected Gray-Zone Operation
Two vessels with documented maritime-militia training histories were present when the cable to Taiwan's outer islands went down. Not a coincidence.
China Ends East China Sea Fishing Ban: Japan on High Alert Over Maritime Militia Risks - Kyodo News
China's East China Sea fishing ban has lifted and Japan is watching the fleet, not the catch. When the same hulls train, the season opens an operation.
China’s “Shadow Fleet” Is Growing More Active at Sea - The Economist
Fewer aircraft, more maritime coercion. China's new normal around Taiwan is not de-escalation — it is a switch to the quieter instrument of pressure: China’s Maritime Militia. Moreover, the question was never whether the PLA has enough hulls. It is whether it can move, sustain and conceal a campaign in several places at once.
RTI’s Taiwan Monitor: Tausend chinesische Fischerboote in Formation: China's Maritime Miliz
China's coast guard operates as an instrument of state power, not law enforcement. The manoeuvre east of Taiwan was aimed at Washington's allies too.
![TAGESSCHAU: Warum Chinas „Fischerflotte“ plötzlich Mauern im Meer baut [Why China’s “fishing fleet” is suddenly building walls in the sea]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60bdda78c9bca3296685d761/1781078862234-HDRAL80POQKGF1M9YLR7/tagesschau+rabbit+hole+graphic.png)
TAGESSCHAU: Warum Chinas „Fischerflotte“ plötzlich Mauern im Meer baut [Why China’s “fishing fleet” is suddenly building walls in the sea]
December, January, March — three times, hundreds of Chinese fishing boats formed lines at sea. Tagesschau asked the obvious question: were they fishing?
“I am a militiaman,” one captain, who leads a fleet, said. He allowed Asahi Shimbun reporters aboard his boat…
A fishing captain told Asahi's reporters he is a militiaman. Analysts put the maritime militia at 200,000–300,000. China’s ambiguity is irregular warfare
“I’m a Militia Member”: Tracking the Chinese Fishing Fleet That Forms a Maritime “Wall”
They said the quiet part out loud; we tracked what they did. AIS and imagery behind the maritime wall — how a line of boats becomes a barrier, and why it recurs.
China appears set on militarizing another reef in the South China Sea
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.