China to step up patrol in disputed islands—report

A satellite image from the DigitalGlobe Analysis Center of the Chinese aircraft carrier Varyag taken on December 8 during its second sea trial in the Yellow Sea, approximately 100 kilometers south-southeast of the port of Dalian. AFP/DigitalGlobe

BEIJING—China will increase maritime surveillance in a group of disputed islands in the East China Sea to guard its territorial rights, the official Xinhua news agency said late Monday.

The uninhabited but strategically located island chain known as Diaoyu in Chinese is believed to be rich in oil and gas reserves, and is at the heart of a long-running diplomatic dispute between China, Japan and Taiwan.

“The patrols are part of our important long-term responsibility,” Wu Ping, deputy head of government agency China Maritime Surveillance, told Xinhua.

Two Chinese patrol boats recently conducted a mission to monitor “illegal” oil and gas extraction projects around the disputed island chain, the report said. The islands are known as Senkaku in Japan.

Disputes over the East China Sea and West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) have intensified in recent years with several Asian nations locked in competing claims over parts of the isles.

Beijing says it has sovereignty over essentially all of the West Philippine Sea, where its professed ownership of the Spratly archipelago overlaps with claims by the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Brunei and Malaysia.