📰 According to the Wall Street Journal:

Six fast patrol boats of the U.S. Coast Guard, previously deployed in the Middle East, have now been stationed in Singapore and Subic Bay in the Philippines to counter the increasing maritime presence of China.

The boats have authorization to operate in the region at least until September and can help make up for part of the gap created after the deployment of U.S. Navy vessels to the Middle East in the wake of the war with Iran.

Their deployment also brings the U.S. Coast Guard closer to critical points in the South China Sea and to China’s so-called “gray zone” activities around disputed waters and near Taiwan.