Chinese expect strong navy

• Source: Global Times
• [08:32 April 16 2009]

By Cong Mu

Recent territory disputes in the South China Sea (SCS) have sparked heavy discussion in China about how to enhance the country’s presence in the waters.

As such, the China Maritime Bureau will carry out the largest-ever patrol of the South China Sea later this month as its biggest vessel departed Tuesday from the Zhuhai port in southern China’s Guangdong Province and headed for Sanya, a port in the southern-most island province of Hainan.

A fishery official told Global Times yesterday that China’s patrols in the southern waters are far from sufficient, and the frequency of those patrols will increase. But netizens and experts are questioning whether civilian patrols can guarantee marine security, and they’re calling for a stronger navy presence.

Routine patrol with perfect timing

Joined by two other ships, the Haixun-31, with a tonnage of 3,500 and a helicopter aboard, will plough the waves of the SCS in a joint patrol launched by maritime authorities in Guangdong, Hainan and Shanghai.

“It is a routine patrol with perfect timing,” said Huang Zuoping, deputy director of the general office of the Fishery Bureau of the South China Sea, alluding to recent aggressive territory claims made by the Philippines and Malaysia over China’s southern waters.

The fishery departments conduct one patrol of the SCS waters every year, according to Huang. “We are considering increasing the frequency to twice a year, and when we have more ships … even more often than that,” he said. “And the maritime departments will do the same.”

Inherited marine rights in question

“The neighboring nations have made unreasonable maritime territory demands, which added up to more than 1 million square kilometers,” said Meng Xiangqing, a professor at the Strategic Research Center at the Defense University of Chinese People’s Liberation Army.

A poll conducted by huanqiu.com over the weekend indicated that a large majority of those polled agreed that China should strengthen its naval forces across the SCS. Among the 9,361 respondents, about 97 percent said China should build up its military power on the SCS in response to the recent claims made by the Philippines, Malaysia and the US in the area.

The US and the Philippines recently held joint military exercises aimed at island combat.

Some scholars believe that China’s unification should be at the top of its agenda if the nation wants to have a true command of its South Sea.

“The Taiwan issue is the bottleneck of China’s marine security. Only when this issue is settled will the problems in the South China Sea, and wider-ranging ones, be resolved,” Zhang Wenmu, a professor with the Centre for Strategic Studies at the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, told Global Times.

Stronger navy deemed necessary

Traditionally speaking, there are only two ways to solve territory disputes, putting them aside or going to war, said Xu Liping, director of the Institute of Asia and Pacific Area at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told Global Times.
While stressing that China should never concede its territorial interests, Xu said that China should use its wisdom to claim inherited rights over the seas.

But China is far from becoming a great maritime power, said Zhou Zhonghai, vice president of the Chinese Society of the Law of the Sea. Compared with the major maritime states, China’s maritime law-enforcing capability is still inferior, he said.

“It’s of great urgency to protect China’s marine resources and safeguard the safety of marine transits and overseas interests. If China owns aircraft carriers, some countries will not be so unscrupulous to encroach on China’s territorial sea,” said Ni Lexiong, a renowned naval strategist in Shanghai.

An Baijie and Zhang Yuanyuan also contributed to this story