The maritime inspection ship Haixun-31, which serves the Maritime Safety Administration of China's Ministry of Communications is now patrolling the East China Sea. Liu Gongchen, executive deputy director the Administration, said China would include contiguous areas and exclusive economic zones into its normal inspection area and constantly step up marine surveillance.

According to Liu Gongchen, Haixun-31 has conducted inspections on international navigation courses, maritime construction and production sites, oil and gas platforms and maritime ship-to-ship transfer operations in the contiguous zones and exclusive economic zones in the South China Sea, East China Sea and Yellow Sea.

In the past, China's maritime patrol ships were small with poor wind-resisting capability and endurance. They mainly carried out surveillance missions in seacoast and were not capable of effective supervision in contiguous areas and exclusive economic zones, according to Wang Jihong, commander-in-chief of Haixun-31.

In recent years, China has been improving its maritime safety supervision capability and has built a raft of large-tonnage maritime patrol ships. The 3,000-ton Haixun-31, which joined nation's patrol fleets on February 22, 2005, is a seaworthy ship that can travel nonstop to any port in the world. It is also China's first civilian vessel to be equipped with helicopter-landing platform, helicopter hangar and a flight control tower. It has expanded China's maritime inspection to the contiguous areas and exclusive economic zones.

By People's Daily Online