HomeRemarks and Releases – Asia Pacific Media Hub...Digital Press Briefing with Vice Admiral Andrew J. Tiongson, Pacific Area Commander, U.S. Coast Guard

# 									Digital Press Briefing with Vice Admiral Andrew J. Tiongson, Pacific Area Commander, U.S. Coast Guard							

Special Briefing

Vice Admiral Andrew J. Tiongson, Pacific Area Commander, U.S. Coast Guard

July 26, 2023

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https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Digital-Press-Briefing-with-Vice-Admiral-Andrew-J.-Tiongson-Pacific-Area-Commander-U.S.-Coast-Guard-1.m4a

**MODERATOR:**  Greetings from the U.S. Department of State’s Asia Pacific Media Hub.  I would like to welcome journalists to today’s on-the-record briefing with Vice Admiral Andrew J. Tiongson, Pacific Area Commander, U.S. Coast Guard.  Vice Admiral Tiongson will discuss the Coast Guard’s Pacific campaign plan, his vision for the future of Coast Guard presence in the Indo-Pacific region, and how the U.S. Coast Guard can continue to be a trusted partner to likeminded regional coast guards’ maritime law enforcement organization.

With that, let’s get started.  Vice Admiral Tiongson, I’ll turn it over to you now for your opening remarks.

**VICE ADMIRAL TIONGSON:**  Tiffany, thank you very much for the introduction, and thank you all for joining us here today.  I’m honored by the people that are here and willing to listen to our United States Coast Guard story.

So let me begin.  And first, I want to begin at those governing type of strategies that drive everything that we do in terms of operations here in the Indo-pacific.  And when I say governing documents, I’m talking about our national-level strategies.  And in this specific case I’m talking about our Indo-Pacific national-level strategy.  A lot of times people read that and they breeze through it very quickly, and they miss some of the words in there.  But if you’re sitting in the seat which I sit in as the United States Coast Guard Pacific Area Commander, you see that it’s pretty much directed right at our commandant and certainly myself.

So let me pull a couple of quotes from this national-level strategy to help you understand my perspective of what I need to do within this region.

So certainly there are parts of the strategy that state, in quotes, “No region will be of more consequence to the world and everyday Americans than the Indo-Pacific, and the United States and our allies and partners hold a common vision for it.”  It defines this common vision as free and open, connected, prosperous, secure, and resilient, and then it goes on to say that the Indo-Pacific’s future depends on decisions we make now.

And here’s the part where people tend to not realize – and this is one that hits me, I believe, personally in the profession that I love.  And here it is in quotes:  “We will also innovate to meet civilian security challenges, expanding United States Coast Guard presence, training, and advising to bolster our partners’ capabilities.”  Again, this, I believe, is speaking directly to our Coast Guard commandant, Admiral Linda Fagan, and then certainly, as her operator within the Pacific area, myself.

And I’ll repeat it, because it’s pretty direct:  We will – we will – innovate to meet civilian security challenges, expanding U.S. Coast guard presence, training, and advising to bolster our partners’ capabilities.  And I feel this is the niche place that we operate and help to obtain a free and open, connected, prosperous, secure, and resilient Indo-Pacific.

I share that with you because, obviously, that is a governing document of the activities of – excuse me, of the operations, activities, and investments of which I have influence over.  And then certainly our Coast Guard strategy also tells us to enhance our mission excellence, and we try to do that each and every day.

Which brings me to what we do in the Pacific area.  And what we do in Pacific area is governed by our campaign plan.  And what is this?  It’s a plan that we’ve put together to mitigate threats and risks, to bridge those national and service strategies to the tactical execution of our operations, activities and investments.

How we use it?  It helps us prioritize our operations through three lines of effort, and those three lines of effort include prepare a ready workforce ready to operate in the Indo-Pacific; to generate combined effects that is working with the combatant commanders, working with our partner nations, working with civilian institutions to go ahead and have more of an impact in the region; and the last one is to uphold governance.  And in many ways, what we believe we are seeing here in the Indo-Pacific deals with maritime governance.

And we are a global Coast Guard, and I believe we’re a global Coast Guard for one fact and one fact only: because people in countries see how we provide maritime governance to our own waters, to our own people around our nation each and every day, and they want to emulate that.  And what I mean by maritime governance is not restricted to just maritime security.  Maritime governance covers all of our U.S. Coast Guard missions: search and rescue; humanitarian assistance and disaster response; marine environmental protection; marine investigation in port facility assessments – certainly maritime law enforcement to include IUU fish, counter drug, and others.  And all of our missions combined make up maritime governance.  And frankly, that is our value proposition not only to the United States of America, but to the world.  We provide great maritime governance.

What do we do with that value proposition?  I already mentioned it.  We use our campaign plan to help prioritize prioritize our operations, activities, and investments to help synchronize those with our other joint services as well as our partner nations, academia, and nongovernment entities.

We do that through three principles, the first of which is to always meet our partners where they are, with what they need.  Not to be overbearing, but to meet them where they are, get a thorough understanding of what they are trying to solve, and to try to assist as much as possible.  And at the same time, I would say, to learn from them as well.

The second principle is always seeing the threats and challenges through their eyes.  Understand what they’re seeing, trying to collaboratively work to get after those threats and challenges.

And the last piece is relentless incrementalism with a sense of urgency: small things that we can do that have a great strategic impact in any area.  And frankly, the one that comes to mind most readily is the recent sinking of the *Princess Empress* motor tanker off of the Philippines, in which a small team of five U.S. Coast Guard members, combined with the Japan Coast Guard, the Korea Coast Guard, and the Philippine Coast Guard, were able to take on this threat of marine environmental protection – or – and not only resolve it but provide great advice to the commandant of the Philippine Coast Guard, who was advising the president of the Philippines.

Relentless incrementalism – small things that have a strategic impact.

And I could go on and on about our campaign plan, but let me tell you, it’s at least 100 pages and you certainly don’t want me to do that today.  I want to tell you at the very end, all of what we do in this region rests on three words.  We want to be a trusted partner.  A trusted partner always there for our friends and our allies to help to conduct subject matter expert exchanges so we can learn from each other, and at the end togetherness is strength when it comes to maritime governance.

So thank you for your time.  That is my opener, and I am really looking forward to all of your questions.

Okay, Tiffany, back to you.

**MODERATOR:**  Thank you.  We will now turn to the question-and-answer portion of today’s briefing.  Our first question was submitted in advance from Shu-ren Koo of *CommonWealth Magazine*, Taipei, Taiwan.  The person writes – this journalist writes, “Any specific plan about United States-Taiwan coast guard cooperation in the future?”

**VICE ADMIRAL TIONGSON:**  Well, thank you for that question.  I really appreciate it.  I want to make it more general in terms of response.  We in the United States Coast Guard, we will partner with any nation that is likeminded – any nation that believes in the rule of law and follows the international norms and standards.

Because, as I just mentioned a moment ago, maritime governance is about partnerships, and the more partnerships you have the stronger the maritime governance is.  And by joining with the Philippines, the Vietnam Coast Guard, the Japan Coast Guard, Taiwan, others, that is making us stronger – stronger in a region that, again, in my mind, needs to have maritime governance to counter the threats and challenges from those who don’t subscribe to the international norms and standards.

So I appreciate that question, and I hope I’ve answered that, and I look forward to partnering with some of your nations, if not all of them, that are likeminded and believe in the rule of law.  Thank you.

**MODERATOR:**  Our next question came in the Q&A chat.  It’s from Danh of VnExpress in Vietnam.  “Will U.S. Coast Guard be open to expand from law enforcement exercises into joint patrols with other Southeast Asia countries in the South China Sea?  How will you respond to China’s argument that the United States Coast Guard deployment in Asia will undermine regional stability?”

**VICE ADMIRAL TIONGSON:**  Well, first, going in reverse order, I believe our presence in this region doesn’t upset stability; I believe it strengthens stability.  I believe it strengthens stability because of what I just talked about in terms of adhering to those international accepted norms, standards, and certainly the rule of law.

In terms of conducting operations together, I am certainly open to talk to all of the coast guards about how we can go towards operations together.  But right now I think what we are doing is sending a powerful message by conducting exercises, training with each other in terms of search and rescue, maritime law enforcement for counter-drug as well as illegal, unreported, unregulated fishing, in terms of humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, in terms of setting up legal frameworks for fisheries.  I think all of that makes us stronger together.

So right now I think that’s where my focus is, but obviously willing to talk even more.  And I would also offer that we have several – and when I say several, I’m talking about 11 to 13 partnerships that are codified in shiprider agreements with other nations.  So in terms of operations, we do conduct those operations, particularly when it comes to IUU fish, and we basically have those focused right now on the Pacific Island countries, or the PICs.  And again, I think the number is 11.  We have those.  We conduct those operations.  And in some of the countries we don’t even need to have a ship – excuse me, in one country we do not even have to have a shiprider on board because we have such a great partnership with them, they trust us to conduct fisheries in their sovereign waters for them with just verbal notification that we’re doing so.

That’s what I’m talking about when I talk about being a trusted partner.  Thank you.

**MODERATOR:**  That’s very similar to a question sent by Kirsty Needham from Reuters in Sydney, Australia.  She writes, “Can you give more details about plans for expanding Pacific Islands patrol?”

**VICE ADMIRAL TIONGSON:**  Well, I don’t know who Kirsty is, Tiffany, but I can tell you I really appreciate that question, and I didn’t set her up to ask it.  I’m really excited about that, because this fall time frame, this fall-to-winter timeframe, I am receiving a new Coast Guard cutter into the theater.  It’s a refurbished one of our medium endurance cutters.  It is coming to us here in Pacific area to do nothing but Pacific-area missions, and it will focus on building partner-nation capacity, and are excited about that because right now it will be in Hawaii.  And in terms of the Pacific Island countries, we are going to start there and go to those countries that we have already worked with in terms of all of our mission sets, and go ahead and expand upon those and hit them all.  And we’re going to continue to do that again and again to meet our partners where they are with what they need.  And again, always seeing the threats and challenges through their eyes.

And if time – when time continues, we hope to expand where that cutter operates.  But right now, really excited about that opportunity.  We’re calling it – as of as of today we’re calling it the Indo-Pacific Support Cutter, and we are excited to have it, and it will be fully operational come this winter time frame.

So, Kirsty, thank you for that question.  I was going to talk about that, and you just set me up.  So I appreciate it.

**MODERATOR:**  Thank you.  We have a question from Jack Lau of the *South China Morning Post* in Hong Kong.  He thanks you for doing this today and asks, “How will access of us armed forces to bases in Papua New Guinea change the U.S. Coast Guard posture in the Western Pacific?”

**VICE ADMIRAL TIONGSON:**  Jack, thank you for that question.  Our posture is going to remain the same.  Our goal, again, is to be a trusted partner, but we are going to partner with countries that are likeminded and believe in that rule of law, believe in the international norms and standards – all to go ahead and look at maritime governance.

We are limited in our resources.  There is no doubt about it.  But we will try our hardest, through adaptive force packaging and other ways, to go and conduct those subject matter expert exchanges, as well as conduct those operations throughout the theatre.

So I do understand what your question is.  I do not believe there’s going to be any changes.  I know there’s not in my plans.  I’m hoping to actually increase our presence through adaptive force packaging, and certainly with the Indo-Pacific Cutter – excuse me, Support Cutter – that is coming into theater.

And then I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that we’re also going to be opening an operational center of excellence for IUU fish and for marine environmental response right there in Hawaii as well.  And we have already been funded for these things through the President’s budget that has been enacted, and we are excited.  Because, again, our footprint is expanding a little bit here to help us be that trusted partner, or a trusted partner in the region.

So thank you for that question.

**MODERATOR:******So we have time for one last question.  Well, actually, I think we have – we could probably – I think we could do two.  This question comes from Mike Punongbayan of the *Philippines Star*.  He asks, “Where are we in the planned conduct of United States-Philippines joint maritime patrols in the South China Sea and the West Philippine Sea?  Will it be happening anytime soon?  And will Japan be joining these maritime patrols too?”

**VICE ADMIRAL TIONGSON:**  That’s a great question.  And I really want to go through a little bit of history with how we’ve gone and and worked together.  Because when I think of great partners in the region, Japan Coast Guard and Philippine Coast Guard are right there, without any doubt.  And in fact, just about a month and a half ago, our U.S. Coast Guard Cutter *Stratton* was operating and conducting training exercises with both the Japan Coast Guard and the Philippine Coast Guard, the first of what I hope is many more multilateral engagements in the region.

And then I also mentioned earlier this oil spill that happened off of the Philippines.  And again, Philippine Coast Guard, Japan Coast Guard, Korea Coast Guard, our Coast Guard, our United States Coast Guard, all working together to get after that marine environmental issue.

So we are working together right now, and we have been for a while.  But what is new is that we are becoming more and more multilateral, and it just harkens back to that principle I talked about: together we’re stronger.  Stronger in terms of maritime governance, and the more multilateral type of interoperable operations we can conduct and/or exercises we can conduct adds to that strength.

Thank you very much.

**MODERATOR:**  We have time for one more question.  That would be from Mark Chen from *United Daily News*, Taipei.  “When you mentioned boosting partner’s capabilities, can you be more specific?  Are there any specific points that require boosting on Taiwanese Coast Guard capabilities?”

**VICE ADMIRAL TIONGSON:**  Yeah, I most certainly can, and I appreciate that comment.  We have – it is amazing what we can do in the theatre with small groups of individuals.  So we have mobile training teams that come into theater, and they provide training on how we do our maritime law enforcement tactics.  And when I say we provide training, we train on ours and our partners train on how they do theirs, and together we take the best lessons learned and guess what happens: we improved all of our tactics, techniques, and procedures as we move forward.

And that mobile training team goes to several countries throughout the region.  We don’t just do it on maritime law enforcement; we also do it in terms of search and rescue.  We have teams that go out and help improve search and rescue for ourselves and for others.  We do the same with maritime domain awareness throughout the region, which is really important when you’re talking about maritime governance.

And then I always get back to that marine environmental protection piece, because often people don’t think in terms of maritime governance in environmental issues.  But yes, if it’s your sovereign waters, you want to ensure that your fisheries is still sustainable and not worried about the oil spill that just happened.  If it’s a place where you have a lot of tourism, you want to ensure that your beaches are clear of oil and the waters that people swim in are clear and safe.  All of that is a form of governance, and we do go and provide those types of trainings.

And right this second as I talk to you, I’m in Japan, and I’ll offer that we have completed 16 engagements with Japan – excuse me, with the Japan Coast Guard – through our SAPPHIRE agreement.  So in one year we did all of these engagements.  We had six operational engagements.  Five of those engagements were afloat, and one was a combined response, and the combined response is that oil spill I was talking about.  And then we’ve had 10 personnel exchanges.  So subject matter expert exchanges back and forth with Japan Coast Guard, and we’ve had three key leadership engagements, to include myself and what I did today, meeting with the commandant and vice commandant of the Japan Coast Guard.

And then certainly we have – we have Japan Coast Guard members sail on our ships, and we do the same on their ships, and our Coast Guard Academy cadets and the Japan Coast Guard Academy cadets have exchanges that go on as well.

So we’re in many different places and we’re doing a lot of great things, and I hope that all of these are moving the dial forward to ensuring a free and open, connected, prosperous, secure, and resilient Indo-Pacific region.

So thank you for all of those questions.  I appreciate it.  And Tiffany, back to you.

**MODERATOR:**  Thank you so much.  Would you like to address our journalists one last time for some closing remarks?

**VICE ADMIRAL TIONGSON:**  Thank you, Tiffany.  As you could tell, I get pretty longwinded because I’m very passionate about my responsibilities and duties here.  But I would offer to all of the people that are on the phone call today, or this press hub, that to have maritime governance in the region is really about partnership.

To be a partner, you have to be trusted.  And again, our goal is to be exactly that.  We want to be a trusted partner with those who think the same way we do, and uphold the rule of law.  And I know that’s many of you that are out there, and we are trying our hardest to make sure that we outreach to as many of you as we can, but we are limited in resources but I think we’re doing pretty good right now.  And I would offer you that ships and big planes are certainly part of the equation, but it is immense what small teams of people can do and provide to nations, to yours and to mine.

So thank you again for your time.  I really appreciate it, and that’s all I have at this point. Thank you.

**MODERATOR:**  That is all the time we have for today.  Thank you to the journalists for your questions, and thank you, Vice Admiral Tiongson, for joining us.  We will provide a transcript of this briefing to participating journalists as soon as it is available.  We’d also love to hear your feedback, and you can contact us at any time at AsiaPacMedia@state.gov.  Thanks again for your participation, and we hope you can join us for another briefing soon.

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