Mike Glenn | August 13, 2025
(The Washington Times) — The U.S. Coast Guard is monitoring a fleet of Chinese icebreakers operating in the Arctic region near Alaska in an unprecedented move for a country long calling itself a “near Arctic state.”
A Coast Guard C-130 Hercules plane last week spotted two Chinese vessels, identified as the Ji Di and the Zhong Shan Da Xue Ji Di, as they sailed northeast in the Bering Sea. The Coast Guard cutter Waesche later spotted the Zhong Shan Da Xue Ji Di heading north in the Chukchi Sea above the Arctic Circle.
Officials at the Coast Guard Arctic District also sent a C-130 Hercules from Alaska’s Air Station Kodiak to investigate reports that another Chinese research ship, the Xue Long 2, was spotted 290 nautical miles north of Utgiagvik, the northernmost U.S. community.
The Coast Guard missions were part of Operation Frontier Sentinel, designed to respond to adversaries operating around Alaska and U.S. Arctic waters.
“The U.S. Coast Guard’s responses are intended to counter malign activities, defend sovereign interests, and promote maritime conduct consistent with international law and norms,” officials said in a statement.
Coast Guard officials said the presence of the Chinese vessels is consistent with a three-year trend of increased activity from Beijing’s fast-growing fleet of so-called research vessels in the U.S. Arctic.
“Last year, three Chinese research vessels conducted research operations north of the Bering Strait,” the officials said.
The U.S. lags far behind the icebreaker fleets of Russia and China. Moscow has dozens of such vessels available for service, while Beijing has at least five. The Coast Guard operates only two such vessels, the Healy and the Polar Star, capable of operating in the high latitudes. On Sunday, a former polar-capable oilfield supply vessel was brought into Coast Guard service — the Storis, the first icebreaker bought by the Coast Guard in a quarter century.
The Coast Guard picked up the nation’s icebreaker mission in 1965 when the Navy handed over its fleet of vessels. The USCG received a windfall last month from the One Big Beautiful Bill that will let it construct at least 17 polar and nonpolar capable icebreakers, service officials said.
China sees the Arctic as a geopolitically important area that will only gain significance in the long term. Michael Paul, a senior fellow with the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, said Beijing will use the region to test its global ambitions and see whether new norms will be accepted there.
“Because the Arctic is not as regulated as the Antarctic, it provides a good testing ground,” Mr. Paul wrote in a recent essay for the European think tank. “China is striving to expand its position as an independent player without raising concerns in the Arctic states.”
Tracking the Chinese icebreaker fleet in the Arctic region is occurring alongside the U.S. military’s annual Arctic Edge — a joint, multidomain drill at several locations in Alaska.
“AE 25 is designed to improve readiness, demonstrate capabilities, and enhance ally and joint force interoperability in the Arctic,” U.S. Northern Command officials said last month. “[It] also includes participation from the U.K., Denmark and interagency partners, including the Alaska National Guard, FBI, U.S. Coast Guard, NOAA [National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration], Alaska state and local law enforcement, and Alaska Native communities.”
