China expands sea patrols but plays down Vietnam spat

By Bill Smith Jun 17, 2011, 6:17 GMT

Beijing - China announced a major expansion of naval patrols in the South China Sea on Friday, but analysts played down its escalating dispute with Vietnam and other South-East Asian neighbours.

State media quoted officials as saying the number of offshore surveillance vessels would increase from 260 to 350 by 2015 in response to an 'increasing number of intrusions by foreign vessels and planes into Chinese waters and airspace in recent years.'

The China Maritime Surveillance force planned to add 16 planes by 2015 to the nine in operation, and expand its fleet of patrol ships and speedboats to 520 vessels by 2020, an unidentified official from the force told the China Daily newspaper.

The force under the State Oceanic Administration began building 36 patrol ships and 54 speedboats last year, the official was quoted as saying.

The expansion was to 'ensure that the country's maritime interests are fully protected amid increasing disputes with its neighbours,' the newspaper said.

Vietnam held a live-fire naval drill on Monday amid popular protests following accusations that Chinese ships disrupted Vietnamese oil and gas exploration in the South China Sea.

But Gong Jianhua, an expert at Guangdong Oceanic University in southern China, said the recent tension appeared to have caused little damage to relations between the two nations' ruling communist parties and that military ties also remained 'quite good.'

'I think the Chinese government didn't take a strong approach. So far, it hasn't become huge, it is only diplomatic,' Gong said of the dispute.

'In recent years, especially after the emergence of the South China Sea issue since the 1960s and 1970s, I personally think that Vietnam worries about its interests in the South China Sea because of the growth of China,' he told the German Press Agency dpa.

'Under this anxious and fretful attitude, it has begun some activities that are challenging China,' Gong said.

China and Vietnam fought a brief but intense border war in 1979 and diplomatic ties were interrupted until 1991.

Armed skirmishes have broken out between them as recently as 1988, when they fought a brief naval battle over the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea.

As well as expanding the China Maritime Surveillance force, China has rapidly developed its naval power to reflect what other Chinese analysts see as a shift in emphasis from self-defence to forward defence.

Yet the government insists that the forward defence position remains part of China's peaceful development and that naval expansion is essential to safeguard its economic and territorial interests.

The official Xinhua news agency this week played down the significance of China's plans to launch it fist aircraft carrier.

'It hardly makes a splash because not only traditional military powers like the United States and Russia have aircraft carriers, but even lesser powers, such as Thailand and Argentina, have their own carriers,' the agency said.

China, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia and Brunei have competing claims to various parts of the South China Sea. The disputed islands and surrounding waters are believed to be rich in fish and mineral resources.

On Wednesday, China's largest patrol ship operated by the Maritime Safety Administration, the Haixun 31, set sail for Singapore on a two-week voyage to protect national 'rights and sovereignty' in the South China Sea.

The Haixun 31, which carries helicopters, would inspect oil wells and 'protect maritime security,' state media said.

Gong said China was 'strictly abiding by' the 2002 'declaration of conduct' in the South China Sea signed with the Association of South-East Asian Nations.

He accused Vietnam and the Philippines of trying to internationalize the issue of the South China Sea and involve the United States, which had 'jumped into the dispute to contain China's rise.'

'Vietnam has taken more than 20 islands in the South China Sea,' Gong said. 'They relied first on the Soviet Union and then the United States to oppose China.'

US officials have accused Chinese ships and planes of increasingly aggressive patrolling of the South China Sea in recent years, but Gong said the United States was 'challenging China' in the region.

A commentary on Tuesday in the Liberation Army Daily, the Chinese military's official newspaper, said China opposed the involvement of any 'non-relevant' nations in negotiations over the South China Sea.

'It has been proved by history that any move to play up disputes, sharpen contradictions, or intentionally internationalize disputes, will only make the situation worse,' the commentary said of the recent tension with Vietnam.

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