The People's Armed Forces Maritime Militia (PAFMM; ) is the government funded maritime militia of China. For reportedly operating in the South China Sea without clear identification, they are sometimes referred to as the "little blue men", a term coined by Andrew S. Erickson of the Naval War College in reference to Russia's "little green men" during its 2014 annexation of Crimea. The armed fishing fleet are part of China's power projection, and are deployed to seize territory and to target anyone who challenges China's claims to the entire South China Sea. In 2016, 230 fishing boats swarmed the same islands. History The PAFMM was established after the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) won the Chinese Civil War and forced the KMT to flee the mainland to Taiwan. The newly consolidated communist government needed to augment their maritime defenses against the nationalist forces, which had retreated offshore and remained entrenched on a number of coastal islands. Therefore, the concept of people's war was applied to the sea with fishermen and other nautical laborers being drafted into a maritime militia. The nationalists had maintained a maritime militia during their time in power, but the communist government preferred to craft theirs anew given their suspicion of organizations created by the nationalists. The CCP also instituted a national level maritime militia command to unite the local militias, something the KMT had never done. In the early 1950s, the Bureau of Aquatic Products played a key role in institutionalizing and strengthening the maritime militia as it collectivized local fisheries. Bureau of Aquatic Products leaders were also generally former high ranking PLAN officers which lead to close relations between the organizations. The formation of the PAFMM was influenced by the Soviet "Young School" of military theory, which emphasized coastal defense over naval power projection for nascent communist powers. In the 1960s and 1970s, the PLAN established maritime militia schools near the three main fleet headquarters of Qingdao, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. Through the first half of the 1970s, the maritime militia mostly stayed near shore and close to China. However, by the later 1970s, the maritime militia had evolved an important sovereignty support function which brought it into increasing conflict with China's neighbors, especially in the South China Sea. The PAFMM contributed significantly to the Battle of the Paracel Islands, especially in providing amphibious lift capacity to Chinese forces. These early PAFMM successes have led to their