China’s “Shadow Fleet” Is Growing More Active at Sea - The Economist

by Gabriel Crossley

Big new formations north of Taiwan suggest officials are testing out its capabilities

No official numbers are published on the size of China’s maritime militia. State news outlets sometimes deny that it even exists. But an article published in 2014 in a Chinese defence journal praised the force as “irreplaceable” thanks to its “wide distribution, disguised identities and familiarity with maritime conditions”. Unlike its navy, China’s militia gives officials plausible deniability for ambiguous “grey zone” activities: they can claim, for instance, that violent spats with other countries’ ships were caused by “patriotic fishermen” acting independently.

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