To contain China, the US bets on a 40-year-old ship
CAIRNS, Australia—Standing on the bridge of a 270-foot U.S. Coast Guard cutter, Lt. Channing Meyer listed the recent upgrades to the 40-year-old ship.
A new deck gun. Reliable power generators. An improved electronic navigation system.
And better internet connectivity. “This thing runs like it was built yesterday," he said a short time later inside a hallway on the Harriet Lane, which was docked at a naval base in the northern Australian city of Cairns. “Maybe even better." The Coast Guard transferred the Harriet Lane to the Pacific from the U.S.
East Coast a few months ago, part of the Biden administration’s latest move to compete with China for influence in the region. U.S. officials view the Coast Guard as a potent soft-power tool in the Pacific, which is home to U.S.
military assets and strategic waterways that could be crucial in a military confrontation over Taiwan. But the Coast Guard is deploying retrofitted vessels such as the Harriet Lane because a plan to build a new class of more modern ships will take years—and has been bogged down by delays and cost increases. At the same time, the Coast Guard’s enlisted workforce is 10% below its authorized strength, one of the largest shortages in its 233-year history, and it is expected to worsen this year, officials said.
China, meanwhile, has reinforced its coast guard with more than 20 former navy corvettes and is increasingly asserting its territorial claims in the South China Sea, where Chinese fishing vessels double as a maritime militia. Beijing is also actively seeking influence in the Pacific, after scoring recent wins such as persuading the tiny island nation of Nauru to sever diplomatic ties with Taiwan in January. Certain Chinese coast guard vessels may have
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