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Significance
The CCG is the largest maritime law-enforcement fleet in the region, and over the last decade the key actor in Beijing's incremental moves to expand on-water administrative control in the South and East China Seas.
Impacts
The law could prompt unit-level commanders to take more initiative in using force, though tighter discipline is likely to offset this.
Japan is strengthening its own coast guard in response to China, but it will remain smaller, more lightly armed and civilian.
The Philippines has issued a protest and flagged increased naval deployments, but the response will be limited because its navy is small.
The new US administration will continue naval patrols in Chinese-claimed waters, with greater publicity.
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2021
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