As regional tensions continue to grow over overlapping claims in the South and East China Seas, China’s premier civilian maritime agency announced last week it would commission more than three dozen new vessels by next year.
Quoting Chinese government officials, the state-affiliated China Daily reported that to safeguard China’s huge maritime interests, the China Marine Surveillance (CMS) would add 36 ships to its fleet by next year. An unnamed CMS official said that seven vessels would have a displacement of 1,500 tonnes, 15 of 1,000 tonnes and 14 of 600 tonnes.
Construction of the 600-tonne cutters reportedly began on Tuesday in Weihai, Shandong Province.
The vessels will be distributed to 14 provinces, autonomous regions and cities along the Chinese coastline, it said.
Last week’s announcement seemed to indicate that the CMS was accelerating its acquisition of new vessels amid disputes with the Philippines, Vietnam and Japan. CMS Deputy Director Sun Shuxian (孫書賢) said in May last year that the 36 new ships would be acquired over the next five years as part of the 12th Five Year Plan approved by the State Council. Under the plan, the agency would also increase personnel by more than 1,000, to about 10,000, and China would “carry out regular sea patrols more frequently to strengthen law enforcement in Chinese-related waters to safeguard the country’s maritime rights in 2011.”
At the time of Sun’s announcement, the CMS counted a fleet of as many as 300 marine surveillance ships — including 30 with displacement of more than 1,000 tonnes — as well as six fixed-wing aircraft and four helicopters.
Jane’s Defence Weekly reported last year that a growing number of larger CMS vessels were capable of carrying helicopters and were becoming more advanced in terms of electronics and maneuverability.
CMS ships were recently involved in China’s dispute with the Philippines over the Scarborough Shoal (黃岩島) and are also used to enforce China’s claims to the Spratly (南沙群島) and Paracel islands (西沙群島) in the South China Sea, of which Taiwan is also a claimant. CMS patrol ships sailing close to the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) have also sparked disputes with Japan.
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
Trips for more than 100,000 international and domestic air travelers could be disrupted as China launches a military exercise around Taiwan today, Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said yesterday. The exercise could affect nearly 900 flights scheduled to enter the Taipei Flight Information Region (FIR) during the exercise window, it added. A notice issued by the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration showed there would be seven temporary zones around the Taiwan Strait which would be used for live-fire exercises, lasting from 8am to 6pm today. All aircraft are prohibited from entering during exercise, it says. Taipei FIR has 14 international air routes and
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
City buses in Taipei and New Taipei City, as well as the Taipei MRT, would on Saturday begin accepting QR code payments from five electronic payment providers, the Taipei Department of Transportation said yesterday. The new option would allow passengers to use the “transportation QR code” feature from EasyWallet, iPass Money, iCash Pay, Jkopay or PXPay Plus. Passengers should open their preferred electronic payment app, select the “transportation code” — not the regular payment code — unlock it, and scan the code at ticket readers or gates, General Planning Division Director-General Liu Kuo-chu (劉國著) said. People should move through the
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