A Japan Coast Guard patrol vessel monitors a China Coast Guard vessel off the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea in April 2024. KYODO/REUTERS
The Japan Coast Guard is responding to Chinese Coast Guard gray zone provocations in the contiguous zone around the Japan-controlled Senkaku Islands, leading to increased tensions and prompting the Japan Coast Guard to increase the armament on their cutters.
“Chinese government vessels’ approaches to the Senkakus have increased sharply since 2012 when Tokyo bought three of the islands from a private owner. The CCG initially deployed one vessel at a time but now routinely dispatches four at a time, the JCG reported. Since mid-2024, all four vessels have been equipped with deck-mounted autocannons such as 76 mm guns.”
But I wanted to highlight one particular paragraph.
“..the CCG has been rapidly increasing its fleet size and capabilities, including weapons. According to the JCG, the CCG operated 161 vessels with full-load displacement of 1,000 tons or more as of December 2024 compared with the JCG’s 78 vessels in that category.”
Now, how many do we have?
- 4 Icebreakers
- 16 WLB (ocean going buoy tenders
- 10 National Security Cutters
- 13 WMEC270
- 8 WMEC 210
- USCGC Alex Haley
- USCGC Eagle
53 ships (I think that is right) for a nation with the second largest EEZ on earth (France’s EEZ is slightly larger).
The US EEZ is about two and a half times the size of that of Japan and about five time the sized of China’s claimed EEZ more than half of which is disputed.
Chuck Hill's CG Blog 
I don’t think coast guard size is necessarily linked to EEZ size. The South Korean coast guard has 36 vessels over 1,000t, more than a third of Japan’s, while only have a little under 1/10th the EEZ.
Certainly there are other considerations. China certainly does not need as many cutters as they have based on EEZ size. China’s numbers are driving their neighbors to need more cutters as a counter.
China’s expansive and aggressive fishing fleet affects the size of S. Korea’s Coast Guard.
IUU also affects the US EEZ, but we have not expanded our cutter fleet in the Pacific to compensate, rather it has shrunk. There are only nine large patrol cutters assigned to Pacific Area which must patrol 85% of the US EEZ.