Taiwan authorities are to consider the feasibility of expanding a research program where college students join the military in tours to Taiping Island, part of the Nansha Islands in the South China Sea, to conduct on-site studies, a move seen as part of its efforts to strengthen sovereignty over the island.

A group from the National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan, which mainly consists of graduate students and PhD researchers in oceanography, geology and biology, completed their studies Thursday on the island and are now heading back to Kaohsiung port in southern Taiwan onboard a frigate, according to the Taiwan-based United Evening News, which cited officials.

Another team is expected to make the trip in August, according to the United Evening News.

The camp program will become an annual activity if further assessment on the South China Sea situation shows it to be feasible, Taiwan officials said.

During the six-day trip, the group carried out on-site inspections on Taiping Island to study maritime law, and the history and current situations of the South China Sea, it reported. Luo Shao, a spokesperson with Taiwan's "defense department" said the camp is designed to enhance the students' border awareness, stimulate their patriotism and improve their understanding and support of Taiwan's policy toward the South China Sea.

Last year, two groups of students and scholars from several universities in Taiwan participated in two Nansha Islands camp programs.

"This is a good way to boost border awareness among the younger generation, and demonstrates public support for the official stance on the South China Sea," said Ji Qiufeng at the Nanjing University.

Both sides across the Straits could forge a tacit understanding in the South China Sea issue, he said.

The nation's maritime territorial sovereignty has been severely infringed upon, with the Philippines laying claims to Huangyan Island, Japan's attempts to buy the Diaoyu Islands and Vietnam's enactment of a law asserting sovereignty over the Xisha Islands and Nansha Islands, a commentary by the Xinhua News Agency said on Saturday.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton further meddled in the South China Sea issue by repeatedly highlighting US interests there and openly supporting individual ASEAN members' scheme to complicate the maritime dispute, but the "strategic pressure" is not conducive to Asia's development or US long-term interests, said the commentary.

Separately, the Ministry of National Defense said Sunday in Beijing that the navy frigate that ran aground in the waters of Nansha Islands has successfully refloated with the assistance of a rescue force.

The frigate stranded in the waters around the Banyue Shoal of Nansha Islands managed to refloat on its own at around 5 am Sunday with the assistance of the navy's rescue force, the ministry said in an online statement.

The fore body of the ship was slightly damaged, but all crew members were safe and the ship will soon make its return voyage.