Chinese research ships, US military active in north Pacific, monitor shows

Five Chinese research vessels, including ships used for space and missile tracking and underwater mapping, were active in the northwest Pacific last month, as the United States stepped up military exercises, data compiled by a Guam-based group shows.



Rapid militarisation in the northern Pacific gets insufficient attention, says the Pacific Center for Island Security, adding that it makes island populations a potential target in any great-power conflict.



"If you look at the number of U.S. and bilateral and multilateral exercises, there is a lot of activity," Leland Bettis, the director of the group that seeks to flag regional security risks, said in an interview.



"Is the fact that the Chinese are sending research vessels into this area to map what is effectively undersea battle space surprising? Probably not."



The centre's Micronesia Security Monitor, launched on Thursday, shows three Chinese research vessels, including the space and missile tracking ship Yuanwang 7, near the tiny Pacific island of Kiribati over the last month.



A Pacific Ocean neighbour of Hawaii with close ties to Beijing, Kiribati has a vast exclusive economic zone spanning 3.6 million sq km