That’s at least how U.S. military analyst Andrew Erickson describes the irregular maritime forces–government-controlled fisherman–that China is using to pursue its national interests in the Western Pacific, in an interview with Defense News.
“China is trying to use these government-controlled fisherman below the radar to get the bonus without the onus to support its South China Sea claims,” Erickson noted. “It’s a phenomenon little-known or understood in the U.S.”
“While Russia’s little green men in Crimea are widely known, insufficient attention has been paid to China’s little blue men in the South China Sea,” he added. “It’s so different from what the US does. People aren’t familiar with it, it’s hard to wrap their heads around it.”
During the recent South China Sea transit of the U.S. destroyer USS Larsen, the People’s Liberation Army Navy vessels behaved professionally. However, according to a U.S. Navy source, “there were Chinese merchant vessels present that were not as demure as the Chinese Navy. One came out of its anchorage in the island and crossed the destroyer’s bow but at a safe distance, and the Lassen did not alter course as the merchant ship circled around.”
Rather than ordinary fishermen, these Chinese vessels were in all likelihood part of China’s maritime militia, whose members often, in fact, wear uniforms. In a recent article, Erickson quotes the People’s Liberation Army’s official newspapers, which states that “putting on camouflage they qualify as soldiers, taking off the camouflage they become law abiding fishermen.”
According to Erickson, “China’s trying to have it two ways here.” Given that the U.S. Navy’s rules of engagement are likely to be different when dealing with a fishing vessel rather than a warship Beijing “is trying to use these maritime militia forces to put it in a position that frustrates us in our ability to respond.”
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