China to expand maritime surveillance forces

May 2nd, 2011 - 1:21 pm ICT by ANI  

Beijing, May 2 (ANI): China’s marine surveillance forces will be expanded rapidly to better protect the country’s marine security, said a senior official.

Sun Shuxian, a deputy director of the China Marine Surveillance (CMS), estimated that more than 1,000 people will join the CMS staff by the end of 2011, increasing the total number to at least 10,000.

He also said that new equipment would be installed on part of the inspection fleet to improve law enforcement capacity.

So far, the CMS has about 300 marine surveillance ships, including 30 ships rated over 1,000 tons, and 10 planes, including four helicopters, to monitor marine affairs, The China Daily quoted Shuxian, as saying.

He said China would carry out regular sea patrols more frequently to strengthen law enforcement in Chinese related waters to safeguard the country’s marine rights in 2011.

Shuxian said great achievements have been made in 2010 with 12 inspection ships added and six marine surveillance branches built.

He added that compared with 2009, the number of monitored flights and voyages have sharply increased in 2010, mainly due to the frequent naval exercises in Huanghai Sea.

According to the China Ocean Development Report 2011 released by CMS, for the past 30 years, about 150 ports and harbors have been built and another 18 will be built covering 2,251 kilometers of coastline, about 13 percent of China’s total. (ANI)

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