Largest patrol vessel launched to protect Chinese waters

The launch of the country's largest and most advanced patrol vessel over the weekend has been named a vital move by analysts to uphold Chinese maritime sovereignty amid simmering territorial rows with neighboring countries in territorial waters.

Haixun 01, launched in Wuhan, Hubei Province on Saturday, is the first Chinese vessel to combine marine inspection and rescue functions, said Xu Guoyi, chief of the Shanghai Maritime Bureau, which will manage the ship.

It is expected to carry out a range of mission types, including safety monitoring, rescue and oil spill handling.

The 5,418-ton ship is 128.6 meters long, with a sailing speed at 37 kilometers per hour and a maximum sailing distance of 10,000 nautical miles without refueling, according to Tang Gongjie, general manager of builder Wuchang Shipbuilding Industry Company.

The vessel can accommodate 200 people rescued at sea and will be equipped with devices to offer basic medical treatment and surgeries. It also has a helipad to facilitate airborne missions.

This new type of vessel is being launched at a time when China is seeing increasingly acrimonious disputes with Japan over the Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea and with several countries, including the Philippines and Vietnam, in the South China Sea.

The ship will help to better safeguard the nation's sovereignty given that its tonnage is larger than previous vessels of its type, including those administrated by maritime and fishery authorities, and its strengthened comprehensive capabilities, said Li Jie, a senior researcher at the Chinese Naval Research Institute.

Li told the Global Times that Haixun 01 is expected to execute missions in the East China Sea after going into service, expected within this year.

China currently has two 3,000-ton patrol vessels, Haixun 11 and Haixun 31, and a 1,500-ton vessel, Haixun 21.

Earlier this month, the Japanese Coast Guard also launched a 6,500-ton petrol vessel, armed with four cannons of different types.

The Sankei Shimbun newspaper reported that the ship was tasked with combating pirates and protecting the country's maritime interests.

Li said that China must develop more large-scale patrol vessels, given its vast territorial waters.

He also noted that there is still room for further technological improvement compared with certain other countries.

Gao Hong, deputy director of the Institute of Japanese Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, also hailed large and advanced patrol ships like Haixun 01 as an important force in peacefully maintaining maritime sovereignty.

"We don't proactively stir up provocations yet have to make sure that we are capable of upholding our own rights in case of confrontations such as collisions," said Gao.

The launch also came one day after Japan's Tokyo metropolitan government called on the US to support a plan to purchase the Diaoyu Islands by taking out an advertisement in the Wall Street Journal.

Citing mounting pressure from China over the territorial dispute, the ad warned that "failure to support the Asian nations confronting China would result in the US losing the entire Pacific Ocean," Kyodo News reported.

The advert also claimed that the Diaoyu Islands are "historically Japanese territory" and located in Okinawa Prefecture, "which is of indispensable geostrategic importance to US force projection."

The Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara initiated the purchase plan in April, sparking a public outcry in China. The Japanese government later announced a "nationalization" plan for the islands.

"It indicated the intention of Japanese right-wing forces to further heat up the issue by sensationalizing it among the international community, which is not conducive to solving the dispute," said Gao.

He noted that addressing the issue still relied on peaceful dialogue.

"If it has to be solved through non-peaceful means, Japan will be blamed for its persistent provocations," he said.