By Kirsty Needham
SYDNEY (Reuters) - The United States&nbsp;Coast&nbsp;Guard&nbsp;is in talks with&nbsp;Pacific&nbsp;Island countries to expand its maritime law enforcement&nbsp;role&nbsp;by allowing U.S. officers to&nbsp;board&nbsp;and&nbsp;search&nbsp;vessels&nbsp;suspected of illegal activity within their economic zones, officials said.
The push to expand the&nbsp;role&nbsp;of U.S.&nbsp;Coast&nbsp;Guard&nbsp;across millions of kilometres of ocean could see U.S. officials&nbsp;board&nbsp;Chinese&nbsp;vessels&nbsp;and comes after an intensification of rivalry in the&nbsp;Pacific&nbsp;between the U.S. and China, which is also seeking to increase its security and fisheries&nbsp;roles.
Papua New Guinea (PNG), which U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will visit this week, the first by a U.S. defence chief, struck the 12th maritime law enforcement agreement between a&nbsp;Pacific&nbsp;Island nation and the U.S.&nbsp;Coast&nbsp;Guard&nbsp;in May.
PNG is the furthest country from a U.S.&nbsp;Coast&nbsp;Guard&nbsp;home port to reach such a pact.
So-called ship riders, or law officers from PNG, will join the U.S.&nbsp;Coast&nbsp;Guard&nbsp;on patrols of PNG's 2.7 million square km (1 million square miles)&nbsp;exclusive&nbsp;economic zone (EEZ) to combat illicit activity.
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "We provide the legs, if you will, to get out to the further reaches of their EEZ and enforce laws over their sovereign rights," U.S.&nbsp;Coast&nbsp;Guard&nbsp;Lieutenant Commander Megan Willmann said in an interview on Wednesday.
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "Whenever PNG wants&nbsp;us, we will try to accommodate that," she said, adding that the goal was for an annual patrol.
PNG Prime Minister James Marape has told parliament the U.S. agreement would "establish an expedited mechanism" for consent to&nbsp;board&nbsp;and&nbsp;search&nbsp;vessels&nbsp;suspected of illicit activity, ranging from drug trafficking to fishing.
The U.S. announced plans a year ago to battle illegal fishing in the&nbsp;Pacific&nbsp;as part of increased engagement with the region to counter China's security ambitions.
U.S.&nbsp;Coast&nbsp;Guard&nbsp;Pacific&nbsp;Area Commander, Vice Admiral Andrew Tiongson, said on Wednesday a cutter would be relocated to Honolulu this year to focus&nbsp;on the Indo-Pacific, and would start with building partner capacity with&nbsp;Pacific&nbsp;countries.
This year, the U.S.&nbsp;Coast&nbsp;Guard&nbsp;patrolled nine of the 12&nbsp;Pacific&nbsp;Island nations with which it has a ship rider agreement.
"We are definitely looking at states that have distant water fleets, and China is one of them," Willmann said of illegal fishing.
BOARDING AGREEMENTS
Some&nbsp;Pacific&nbsp;Island nations are in talks to go further than ship rider agreements, to allow U.S. officials to&nbsp;board&nbsp;and&nbsp;search&nbsp;foreign&nbsp;vessels&nbsp;in their waters without a local official present, Willmann said.
"Ship&nbsp;boarding agreements" would reduce the diplomatic hurdles, and time constraints, the U.S.&nbsp;Coast&nbsp;Guard&nbsp;faces to enter port to pick up ship riders, she said.
"A lot of&nbsp;Pacific&nbsp;Island nations are interested in that and so are we. The logistics of picking up a ship rider is complicated," said U.S.&nbsp;Coast&nbsp;Guard&nbsp;captain Angela Cook, legal adviser on the expanded agreements.
Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) is the first nation to agree to the U.S.&nbsp;Coast&nbsp;Guard&nbsp;boarding&nbsp;vessels&nbsp;on its behalf. FSM's previous&nbsp;president, who stepped down in May, had complained about Chinese research&nbsp;vessels&nbsp;conducting unauthorised surveillance in its waters.
Palau also said it had asked the U.S. to step up patrols after apparent surveillance activity by Chinese&nbsp;vessels, which China denied.
Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, with closer ties to China, have declined recent U.S.&nbsp;Coast&nbsp;Guard&nbsp;port calls, however.
Willmann said the U.S.&nbsp;Coast&nbsp;Guard&nbsp;was waiting for diplomatic clearance to enter Vanuatu, after being unable to refuel&nbsp;there in January on a patrol for illegal fishing.
The Chinese navy visited Vanuatu in April to deliver relief supplies.
The U.S. is in the process of establishing an embassy in Vanuatu, after recently opening a mission in Solomon Islands, which last year struck a security pact with China that alarmed Washington and its allies.
Austin is expected to meet Marape on Thursday to discuss the next steps in the law enforcement deal, and a separate defence agreement.
Marape has told parliament the defence deal allows the U.S. to refurbish and develop PNG ports and airports for civilian and military&nbsp;use.
&nbsp;
(Reporting by Kirsty Needham)

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