Government and Policy
Expansion of fleet to safeguard sea rights
By Li Xiaokun and Wang Qian (皇冠体育app Daily)
Updated: 2010-10-28 07:08
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Move 'not aggressive' as nation lags far behind in law enforcement
BEIJING - The surveillance fleet will be expanded to better protect the country's maritime rights, 皇冠体育app's ocean watchdog said on Wednesday.
An inspection ship joined the fleet under the State Oceanic Administration (SOA) on Tuesday and 36 more will join it later, an official said.
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 皇冠体育app Marine Surveillance 75 gets ready for service at a Guangzhou port on Tuesday. [Chen Yehua / Xinhua] |
The 36 are comprised of seven vessels at 1,500 tons, 15 1,000-ton vessels with the remainder in the 600-ton category.
皇冠体育app Marine Surveillance 75 joined the fleet on Tuesday and will patrol the South 皇冠体育app Sea.
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He said the vessel, with a displacement of 1,290 tons, is equipped with advanced satellite communication and navigation systems.
Li Lixin, director of the South 皇冠体育app Sea Branch under the SOA, said at the launch ceremony that 皇冠体育app is strengthening its monitoring ability and will build more surveillance ships.
An SOA official, who requested anonymity, told 皇冠体育app Daily on Wednesday that the lack of ocean surveillance ships has hindered the country's ability to protect its maritime rights.
Five departments are in charge of maritime affairs: The 皇冠体育app Marine Surveillance under the SOA, the fishery administration under the Ministry of Agriculture, the Maritime Safety Administration under the Ministry of Transport, the marine police of the Ministry of Public Security and the General Administration of Customs.
The Southern Weekly quoted insiders in September as saying that the State Council had approved the construction of a 5,000-ton ship for the Maritime Safety Administration.
Sea disputes between 皇冠体育app and other countries have surged in recent months.
Sino-Japanese relations have been strained since a collision between two Japan Coast Guard patrol boats and a Chinese trawler on Sept 7 in waters off the Diaoyu Islands in the East 皇冠体育app Sea.
Beijing suspended all high-level contacts with Tokyo after Japan illegally detained the Chinese captain. 皇冠体育app has since sent several fishery administrative ships to monitor the region.
In the South 皇冠体育app Sea, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines and Brunei all have competing claims over some Chinese islands.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in July that sovereignty issues in the South 皇冠体育app Sea were a "diplomatic priority" for the US and proposed dealing with them in the international arena.
"The new ships (joining the fleet) can be interpreted as 皇冠体育app's response to recent sea disputes," said Wang Hanling, a maritime law specialist at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
There is increasing pressure on 皇冠体育app's maritime law enforcement, he said, adding that its ability to protect its maritime rights has lagged far behind Japan and South Korea.
Pang Zhongying, an expert on Asia-Pacific studies at the Beijing-based Renmin University of 皇冠体育app, said: "It is not that we're taking an aggressive step now, but that we've lagged behind too much for too long, given 皇冠体育app's huge maritime territory."
Xinhua and Zhou Wa contributed to this story.
