U.S., Allies and Partners enhance Pacific island stability and security through shiprider agreements

FORUM Staff

The United States Coast Guard cutter Midgett visited Australia, New Zealand and Tuvalu in February 2025 as part of the shiprider program, in which Indo-Pacific nations and territories partner to deter illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, counter drug trafficking, and strengthen bilateral relationships. Personnel also exchange expertise and best practices, and enhance interoperability.

The bilateral maritime law enforcement agreements, also known as shipriders, have supported Pacific nations and territories in asserting their sovereignty and managing offshore resources. The program, initiated in the Indo-Pacific in 2008 in Cook Islands, targets destabilizing behavior that undermines mutual prosperity, trade and healthy marine ecosystems.

The program contrasts with China’s attempts to establish a presence in the Pacific theater and elsewhere. New Zealand’s Defence Policy Strategy Statement, adopted in 2023, calls for an awareness of China’s efforts. “An increasingly powerful China is using all its instruments of national power in ways that can pose challenges to existing international rules and norms,” the strategy states. “Beijing continues to invest heavily in growing and modernizing its military and is increasingly able to project military and paramilitary force beyond its immediate region, including across the wider Indo-Pacific.”

Beijing’s hospital ships Peace Ark and Silk Road Ark provide medical services and engage in international exchanges. Its People’s Liberation Army Navy, meanwhile, embarks on escort and anti-piracy missions, The Diplomat magazine reported in February 2025.

However, some deployments are to locations China has “likely considered” or “already made overtures to” for military basing access, the U.S. Defense Department reported in December 2024. Some visits include joint military exercises.

“In addition to its high-profile port investments abroad, China is increasingly using humanitarian and commercial objectives to increase its maritime presence abroad — including medical diplomacy, escort missions, and security fora,” The Diplomat reported.

Beijing’s ostensibly benevolent maritime deployments have included countries in Africa and the Caribbean, as well as Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in South Asia, and Pacific island nations Kiribati, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Tonga and Vanuatu, according to reports.

The U.S. shiprider engagements underscore a commitment to support Pacific island nations and promote a secure and prosperous region. They are part of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command’s Theater Security Cooperation initiative.

Law enforcement agreements between the U.S. Coast Guard and 12 Indo-Pacific partners enable military and law enforcement personnel to ride aboard each other’s vessels within their respective waters, including exclusive economic zones. They can stop, inspect and detain boats suspected of illicit maritime activities such as IUU fishing. Participants include Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

The Midgett, a 418-foot vessel equipped with advanced technology and based in Honolulu, Hawaii, embarked on its monthslong patrol in January 2025, a Coast Guard official told FORUM. Off Tuvalu, personnel boarded vessels to ensure compliance with regulations in collaboration with local police, fisheries officials and government leaders. “We learned a great deal from each other, and this experience will undoubtedly pay dividends in future operations,” Capt. Matthew Rooney, the cutter’s commanding officer, said in a news release.

The ScanEagle, an uncrewed aerial surveillance and reconnaissance vehicle, was used to enhance maritime awareness.

The Midgett’s visit to New Zealand reinforced a 2023 agreement between the Coast Guard and the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN). Three RNZN Sailors joined the Midgett’s voyage from Honolulu to the South Pacific as part of the nations’ exchange program. In New Zealand’s capital, Wellington, the Midgett’s crew met with representatives from the Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand and the New Zealand Maritime Police, as well as with residents.

The Midgett later made a port call in Sydney, Australia, Reuters reported. The cutter crossed the Tasman Sea separating Australia and New Zealand in February while Chinese Communist Party warships conducted live-fire drills in the area that forced commercial airlines to change the paths of 49 flights. The Midgett did not encounter the ships, according to the news agency. “We were aware of their presence,” Rooney told reporters in Sydney. “It did not affect our operations.”

The unannounced exercise was “a very unusual demonstration of force so far from China’s mainland,” Drew Thompson, a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, told The Straits Times newspaper. “[It] disrupted civil aviation and raises serious doubts about the credibility of Beijing’s rhetoric and assertion that it is not a threat to the peace and stability of the entire Pacific.”