Editing People's Liberation Army Navy (section)

===Relationship with other maritime organizations of China===
{{see also|China Coast Guard}}
The PLAN is complemented by paramilitary maritime services such as the [[China Coast Guard]].  The Chinese Coast Guard was previously not under an independent command, considered part of the [[People's Armed Police]], under the local (provincial) border defense command, prior to its reorganization and consolidation as an unified service. It was formed from the integration of several formerly separate services such as [[China Marine Surveillance]] (CMS), [[General Administration of Customs]], Armed Police, [[Maritime law enforcement agencies in China#Fisheries Law Enforcement Command|China Fishery Law Enforcement]] and local [[maritime militia]].

The CMS performed mostly coastal and ocean search and rescue or patrols, and received quite a few large patrol ships that significantly enhanced their operations; while Customs, militia, Armed Police and Fishery Law Enforcement operated hundreds of small [[patrol craft]]. For maritime patrol services, these craft are usually quite well armed with machine guns and 37mm anti-aircraft guns. In addition, these services operated their own small aviation fleets to assist their maritime patrol capabilities, with Customs and CMS operating a handful of [[Harbin Z-9]] helicopters, and a [[maritime patrol aircraft]] based on the [[Harbin Y-12]] STOL transport.

Every coastal province has 1 to 3 Coast Guard squadrons:
* 3 Squadrons: Fujian, Guangdong
* 2 Squadrons: Liaoning, Shandong, Zhejiang, [[Hainan]], Guangxi
* 1 Squadron: Heibei, Tianjin, Jiangsu, Shanghai