Tighter oceanic controls planned
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China's oceanic authorities have vowed to strengthen supervision and law enforcement over its territorial waters so as to maintain order in its ocean activity, People's Online reported Saturday.
Sun Zhihui, director of the State Oceanic Administration (SOA), said that the administration plans to strengthen patrols and supervision in order to protect the country's maritime rights and interests, the newspaper reported.
The SOA is one of several government agencies that oversee order and security within 392 kilometers off any point of China's coast.
Other watchdogs include the fishery administration under the Ministry of Agriculture, the Maritime Safety Administration under the Ministry of Transport, the coastal police under the Ministry of Public Security and the anti-smuggling body under Customs authorities.
The announcement followed a dispute between Japan and China last month over the Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea, when Japanese coast guards seized and held a Chinese captain for 17 days after his fishing boat collided with two Japanese patrol boats.
Over half of the 3 million square kilometers of waters over which China possesses sovereignty and jurisdiction, including territorial waters and exclusive economic zones, face challenges from neighboring countries, including South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia, the Beijing-based International Herald Leader newspaper reported.
"Exclusive economic zones often overlap between nations and China has not reached agreements on ocean borders with most of its neighboring countries," Chen Hong-zhong, director of the military affairs committee at the Beijing Bar Association, told the Global Times Sunday.
"It's time to strengthen China's assertion of sovereignty over these areas by sending patrol ships and solving these issues by negotiation," Chen added.
After the Diaoyu Islands collision incident, China sent several fishery administration ships to patrol the area.
Japan-based Sankei Shimbun newspaper reported Saturday that a Chinese frigate patrolled around Pinghu Oilfield in the East China Sea for a week, one of five oilfields that China has exploited in the area. However, this was not confirmed by Chinese authorities.
"Apart from the importance of maintaining territorial sovereignty over its waters, the considerable economic benefits from the natural resources around the Diaoyu Islands are also an essential reason for China to take control over the islands," Song Xiaojun, a Beijing-based military expert, told the Global Times.
Chinese oceanic authorities have not achieved effective management in many exclusive economic zones in the East China Sea and South China Sea, despite the involvement of a number of agencies, Song added, suggesting the government to improve coordination between departments.
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