China to boost maritime patrols as disputes mount

BEIJING–China will massively boost the size of its offshore maritime patrol force by 2020 to protect its interests as tensions with its South China Sea neighbors simmer, state media reported Friday.

The China Maritime Surveillance force will be bolstered from the current staff of 9,000 to 15,000 personnel by 2020, the China Daily reported.
The force falls under the State Oceanic Administration, an agency that supervises China’s coastline and territorial waters.

The patrol fleet will have 350 vessels by 2015 and 520 by 2020, the report said, citing an unnamed senior China Maritime Surveillance official. It will also have 16 planes by 2015.

Disputes at sea between China and other countries have been on the rise, a State Oceanic Administration report said last month.

China has competing claims with Taiwan, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei over potentially resource-rich islands in the South China Sea.

China said Thursday it had sent a maritime patrol vessel to disputed waters in the area but insisted it was committed to peace in the region.

Beijing has pledged it will not resort to force to resolve lingering maritime territorial disputes, after the Philippines this week sought help from the United States and Vietnam staged live-fire military exercises.

Taiwan’s navy said this week it would proceed with scheduled patrol missions in the disputed waters, sending a naval fleet to Taiwan-controlled Taiping, the biggest island in the Spratlys, one of the disputed island chains.