China has "unprecedented number" of ships in U.S. Arctic waters, DHS says
The United States military said it is taking a "strategic approach" to ramping up its presence in Arctic waters, after a report by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security called China's visibility in that area "unprecedented."
"In 2025, an unprecedented number of Chinese military and research vessels operated in or near U.S. Arctic waters, prompting the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) to respond decisively in defense of American sovereignty," said. "This proactive stance reflects the Administration's renewed commitment to securing U.S. borders and interests, even in the remote Arctic region. However, China's continued expansion of its icebreaking fleet poses a potential challenge to U.S. maritime sovereignty if future Chinese operations fall outside legal parameters."
This year, the U.S. Coast Guard commissioned a new icebreaker vessel, which is specially built to navigate waters covered by ice. The ship, called the USCG Cutter Storis, was the first polar icebreaker acquired by the agency in more than 25 years, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Department officials said the Coast Guard "requires additional modern vessels" to achieve national interests in the Arctic in the 21st century. President Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act allocated $8.5 billion for the U.S. to acquire icebreaking ships on an expedited basis, the department said, adding that a has been implemented "to support the creation of a skilled workforce capable of designing and constructing complex icebreaking vessels."
Homeland Security emphasized that insufficient polar icebreaking abilities could mean "ceding control" of the Arctic, "leading to heightened security concerns, restricted access to Arctic shipping routes, loss of valuable resources and diminished influence in shaping future Arctic policy."
Chinese research ships appeared more often in U.S. territory in the Arctic this year than they had in years' past, the Coast Guard has said. In August, the agency shared its plans to expand its crews in U.S. Arctic waters as part of an effort to address "increased activity" by Chinese research vessels in that area.
That announcement came on the heels of another from the Coast Guard, which said in July that another China-flagged research ship had been detected off the coast of Alaska, in the North American Arctic. Coast Guard crews monitored the ship's movements alongside the Canadian military, Canada's CBC News reported at the time.
