New | China plans world's biggest marine surveillance ship

China wants to build the world’s biggest marine surveillance ship with a full displacement of 10,000 tonnes, state media has reported.

If the giant ship is built, China will surpass Japan to possess the world’s largest marine vessel.

Both the Beijing Times and the Global Times on Monday cited reports from the China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), one of the country’s two shipbuilding giants, as saying that the company’s subsidiary Shanghai Marine Equipment Research Institute, or 704 Institute, had signed a 280 million yuan (HK$356 million) contract with related authorities late last year.

The contract would include a 10,000-tonne patrol ship and a 4,000-tonne marine surveillance vessel, according to reports. But there was no detail on whether the new giant vessel would be equipped with remote weapon systems similar to Japan Coast Guard’s “Shikishima” (PLH 31), which is currently the largest patrol vessel in the world.

The largest model of “Shikishima” has about 7,175 tonnes of full displacement, while China’s existing biggest patrol vessel “Haijian 50” has 4,000 tonnes.

The Haijian, which was also built by the CSSC and delivered to the State Oceanic Administration (SOA) in 2011, patrols in the East China Sea, where China has territory disputes with Japan over the Diaoyu Islands, also known as Senkaku in Japan.